Bi-partisanship at Westminster, and consensus in Northern Ireland, were under mounting strain last night as the British government again rejected Conservative and unionist demands for an end to prisoner releases in response to the rising tide of paramilitary punishment attacks.
At the end of a 31/2-hour debate in the Commons the government defeated a Conservative motion by 343 votes to 141, a government majority of 202.
While 10 Downing Street and Mr William Hague's office insisted the bipartisan approach continued, the issue had earlier dominated Prime Minister's Question Time for the second week running, provoking the most bitter exchanges between the government and opposition front benches at Westminster since well before the first IRA ceasefire.
And the ensuing debate on the Tory motion laid bare the widening gulf between Mr David Trimble and Mr Seamus Mallon, the First and Deputy First ministers-designate, over the conduct of the political process.
Mr Trimble said Mr Blair's warning that calling a halt to prisoner releases could endanger the Belfast Agreement would "chill the hearts of many people in Northern Ireland". But Mr Mallon told MPs they were "playing with fire", warning: "If you break one of the key provisions of the Belfast Agreement then that agreement is gone." Urging MPs to sustain the primacy of the political process, Mr Mallon said "to exclude people from the political process is not the way to wean them from violence and arms".
And with his mind clearly set as much on the looming confrontation on the issue of decommissioning and Sinn Fein's entry into the proposed executive, Mr Mallon appealed to the House: "Do not make this or any other issue a make-or-break issue."
Fresh from a meeting with representatives of FAIT (Families Against Intimidation and Terror), Mr Hague had infuriated Labour MPs, rising five times to tell Mr Blair he had the evidence and the justification to put the prisoner release programme "on hold". But a clearly angry Mr Blair warned the Conservative leader his proposed course would have "immense consequences" for the prospects of lasting peace in Northern Ireland. Disputing Mr Hague's quoted statistics, and insisting that so-called punishment attacks had continued "to an even greater degree" under the previous government, Mr Blair said that while this might be "an imperfect peace and an imperfect process" it was "better than no process and no peace at all".
And to cheers from his backbenchers, the Prime Minister told Mr Hague: "I don't doubt you are well intentioned on this. But I do believe you are dragged along by some who don't wish this agreement well."
Mr Hague denied this, pressing Mr Blair: "You say the wider interests of peace require the early release of prisoners to continue. But isn't the logical conclusion of this that every single terrorist could be released from prison without a single gun or bomb being given up?"
Mr Blair told Mr Hague: "I've made clear our total condemnation of these attacks and our desire to do all we can to prevent them. But you also have to face up to the consequences of what you are asking me to do. If we end up exercising our power, declaring the ceasefire at an end, the consequences for this agreement would be huge."