Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson were performing a kind of good-cop-bad-cop routine as yet another D-day for the Ulster Unionist Party drew nearer.
On the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme yesterday, the Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, warned those Ulster Unionists planning to oppose Mr David Trimble at tomorrow's meeting that, should the Executive collapse, Dublin would have more involvement in Northern Ireland's affairs.
The British Prime Minister, meanwhile, took a softer approach, telling Evening Extra's Mark Carruthers he was here to "touch base" with the people, persuading them to work towards a secure future for Northern Ireland.
Good Morning Ulster's political correspondent, Mark Simpson, summed it up like this: "Peter is waving a big stick and Blair is waving a big carrot, saying please don't throw it all away."
Simpson had details of the letter sent by the UUP's Lagan Valley MP, Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, to all 860 Ulster Unionist Council members which proposed that the UUP should leave the Assembly if decommissioning didn't happen by November 30th. It was like a tug-of-war, he explained, and Mr Trimble was the rope.
Giving his reaction to the motion proposed by Mr Donaldson and other dissident unionists on BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback, UUP Minister Mr Michael McGimpsey was dismissive.
"This is more like a Christmas wish-list for the No camp than a serious political project," he said.
On UTV Live at 6 p.m. Mr Trimble put it even more clearly. "This is Jeffrey's letter to Santa," he said. A deadline of any sort was a "crude device".
But on the same programme Mr Donaldson was sticking to his guns, so to speak. There had been 2 1/2 years of waffle, of sweeping the issue under the carpet, and it hadn't delivered a single bullet. "The IRA are laughing all the way to the bank," he said.
As usual it was BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback that provided some of the most lively comments.
One caller was very exercised about the demands of the anti-agreement side. "The IRA will never hand over arms. They should get that into their brain boxes, if they have any brain boxes, that is," he said.