split the party, with leader Harry Midgley forming his own strongly Unionist Commonwealth Labour Party in 1942. In the 1949 elections to the Stormont Parliament, Labour’s vote fell to 26,831 votes, 7% of the total votes cast. This was a dramatic decline from the 18.5% share of the vote in the 1945 election. Later in the 1950s, the party began to gain ground amongst unionist voters and, after the breakup of the Irish Labour Party's new attempts to organise in Northern Ireland, among some nationalists. The NILP campaign to highlight the failure of the Unionist Government to respond effectively to the growing problem of unemployment led to the NILP attracting more support form both Protestant and Catholic working class voters. In the 1953 elections to the Stormont Parliament the NILP recovered to a 12% share of the vote. The NILP saw its greatest period of success between 1958 and 1965. In 1958 the Party won nearly 16% of the vote. Four NILP MPs were elected to Stormont for Belfast constituencies: Tom Boyd (Pottinger), Billy Boyd (Woodvale), Vivian Simpson (Oldpark), and David Bleakley (Victoria). The NILP then became the official opposition at Stormont. In the 1962 Stormont elections the NILP won 76,842 votes, over 25% of the total votes cast. In the 1964 UK General Election the NILP polled 102,759 votes - its highest ever popular vote. Success came despite continued divisions over such matters as Sunday Observance – two NILP Belfast councillors voted to close the city's park playgrounds on Sundays (as demanded by hard line Calvinists but opposed by Catholics) and were expelled as a result. During this period the NILP maintained its pro-union stance. Despite this, the NILP was winning support from the Catholic working class who were voting on “bread and butter” issues. Paddy Devlin, previously an Irish Labour councillor, joined the NILP in 1958: “the only party that filled my need was the NILP, which was then going from strength to strength. With active trade union backing it was climbing back into the natural position for a local Labour Party: chief challenger of Unionist Party dominance.” Civil Rights In the early to mid 1960s, the NILP was a leading voice in the calls for civil rights and an end to discrimination. When the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) was formed in 1967, NILP members were prominent in the organisation with Paddy Devlin elected to its