When Malcolm Fraser became leader of the Liberal Party, Gorton walked out of the party room. A month later he resigned from the party. Then he tried to get elected an indepedent to the Senate in 1975. Gorton was unhappy with the way the Governor General sacked Gough Whitlam and the way Malcolm Fraser became Prime Minister, so he said people should vote Labor in 1975. He then retired from politics but worked in radio and supported things like drug law changes. With Fraser gone, John Howard's Liberal Party got Gorton back in the party and had a special gala dinner in Canberra in 1999. In 2001, a big party was held for his 90th birthday. It was organised by some of his old Liberal and National Party friends, but there were also messages from the Queen, U.S. and British leaders and all the Labor Prime Ministers of Australia.