Political Career
In 1972 Hull was a prominent founder member of the Ulster Vanguard. With William Craig confirmed as leader, Hull became one of his most prominent and visible lieutenants alongside the Reverend Martin Smyth and Captain Austin Ardill. He subsequently stood for the Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party in North Belfast at the Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1973, but took only 852 votes and was not elected. Along with Herron, Bill Snoddy and Tommy Lyttle, Hull's performance represented a near total routing for the Vanguard's UDA candidates, although Glenn Barr was elected in the North-West to prevent a total wipeout. The trade union backgrounds of Hull and Barr had helped to persuade Craig to include the word "Progressive" in his party's name in the first place.
Following his own disappointing showing Hull contemplated turning the LAW into a new, working class loyalist party, but this was fiercely opposed by Vanguard leader William Craig. This suggestion, along with Hull's background in the Northern Ireland Labour Party began to see his credentials as a loyalist questioned and his support erode. The LAW collapsed, many of its members forming the Ulster Workers Council.
Read more about this topic: Billy Hull
Famous quotes containing the words political and/or career:
“No political party can ever make prohibition effective. A political party implies an adverse, an opposing, political party. To enforce criminal statutes implies substantial unanimity in the community. This is the result of the jury system. Hence the futility of party prohibition.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“I doubt that I would have taken so many leaps in my own writing or been as clear about my feminist and political commitments if I had not been anointed as early as I was. Some major form of recognition seems to have to mark a woman’s career for her to be able to go out on a limb without having her credentials questioned.”
—Ruth Behar (b. 1956)