Post-independence
Under Begin he was charged with the task of managing the Irgun's integration in the newly-formed Israeli Defense Forces.
In the political sphere Meridor was one of the founders of Herut and was elected to the Knesset in Israel's first elections. He retained his seat in elections in 1951, 1955, 1959, 1961 and again in 1965 after Herut had merged with the Liberal Party to form Gahal (which later became Likud). He also published a book in 1955, entitled Long is the Path to Freedom: Chronicles of one of the Exiles. However, he lost his seat in the 1969 elections.
Meridor resurrected his political career in 1981 when he was elected to the Knesset on Likud's list. Despite his pre-election embarrassment at falling prey to the Bulb to light all Ramat Gan hoax, he was appointed Minister of Economics and Inter-Ministry Coordination by Prime Minister Begin. He retained his ministerial position when Yitzhak Shamir took over from Begin in 1983.
Despite his high rank within the government, Meridor lost his seat again in the 1984 elections, and did not return to the Knesset.
Read more about this topic: Ya'akov Meridor