dichotomy between the political and worker leaders was thrown into sharp contrast. Ian Paisley addressed a rally in Rathcoole at which he claimed a personal victory before a crowd of 5,000 people whilst Harry Murray returned to the anonymity of his work at the shipyard. Very soon the three political leaders also ended their relationship with Andy Tyrie, despite his leading role in the strike. Merlyn Rees had interpreted the strike, in which avowed loyalists had openly defied the British government, as an outbreak of Ulster nationalism. Journalist Robert Fisk endorsed this view by arguing that: The fifteen unprecedented, historic days in which a million British citizens, the Protestants of Northern Ireland, staged what amounted to a rebellion against the Crown and won... During those fifteen days, for the first time in over fifty years... a section of the realm became totally ungovernable. A self-elected provisional government of Protestant power workers, well-armed private armies and extreme politicians organized a strike which almost broke up the fabric of civilized life in Ulster. They deprived most of the population for much of the time of food, water, electricity, gas, transport, money and any form of livelihood. T. E. Utley also recognised the fact that the UWC's apparatus had become almost a shadow government for the duration of the strike although he did not develop this point, instead concentrating on praising the strike and its aims thus: Here was an instance of a working-class movement which had resolved to achieve a political objective by means of a general strike. ... By the beginning of the second week of the strike, support for it had spread throughout all classes of the Protestant community. Bank managers and suburban golf club secretaries cheered the strikers on. The atmosphere recalled that of Britain in 1940. ... The whole operation was conducted...with the utmost discipline and efficiency. The strikers virtually took over the task of government. They enforced a petrol rationing scheme and issued passes to those permitted to go to work. They collected and distributed food, carrying with them the farmers who willingly bore severe financial losses in the process. Their public service announcements were read out on the BBC's Ulster Service each morning. Inevitably, there were instances of brutality, theft and peculation, but the prevailing spirit was one of dignified patriotic protest. For a time the UDA looked to this spirit of Ulster nationalism for its