as 100,000 members at its peak and Hull helped to organise a 48-hour strike as a response to the introduction of direct rule. This however was to prove the zenith of the LAW for Hull disagreed with other leading figures over strategy soon afterwards and the movement collapsed, with the bulk of the membership decamping to the Ulster Workers' Council. UDA In 1971 Hull had co-operated closely with Jim Anderson in helping to organise a local "defence association" of vigilantes in the mid-Shankill area. This group was swiftly merged with a number of similar like-minded groups to form the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and from 1972–73 Hull would serve as a member of the UDA's Inner Council, the name given to a group of prominent members who met regularly to decide the direction of the movement. Hull was prominent in the early years of the UDA and in 1972 was one of three members, along with Tommy Herron and Davy Fogel, to meet Secretary of State for Northern Ireland William Whitelaw at Parliament Buildings to discuss the growing problem of violence at interface areas in Belfast. In November of the same year he also accompanied Herron on a trip to Canada where the pair hoped to present the loyalist case and develop links with groups representing Northern Irish emigrants. 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 its successor, the Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party in North Belfast at the 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election, 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 Derry 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,