 Gjems-Onstad's cooperation with Hagen was however not to last. In early 1976 Gjems-Onstad voiced his discontent with the ever-ongoing conflicts within the party, and he had by mid-year not decided whether or not he wanted to run for re-election. He eventually felt squeezed out of the party, and wanted no part in the intriguing he considered Hagen to represent. He was replaced as parliamentary leader of the party at the start of October. After he in turn recommended voters to rather vote for the Conservative Party in an interview with Aftenposten, he was finally expelled from the party by a unanimously approved motion put forward by Carl I. Hagen later the same month. Gjems-Onstad finished his term as an independent.
