Mr David Trimble has expressed his confidence that the British government will not move towards some form of "joint authority" with Dublin if the Belfast Agreement fails. He told Conservatives in Blackpool yesterday that he expected London in the coming weeks "to underline that Sinn Fein will not be allowed to benefit from the collapse of the agreement".
Addressing a fringe event organised by the Unionist Information Office (GB), the Ulster Unionist leader offered a gloomy assessment of the chances of breakthrough in the Mitchell review, which he suggested would last a further "two to four weeks".
Reaffirming his support for the agreement and his belief that it still offered "the best chance" for Northern Ireland, Mr Trimble said: "The exchanges we have had with republicans give us no cause to believe they will tackle their obligations." And he added: "Unless there is that clear commitment to peace and democracy (by republicans) we have a problem."
Admitting that he had no idea what would happen in that event, Mr Trimble referred to press speculation about a government "Plan B"', saying: "I do not detect any intention on the part of government to proceed to some form of joint authority."
Mr Trimble was welcomed at the meeting by Lord Cranborne, the former Tory leader in the House of Lords, on a day, he said, "that the mass of the Conservative Party has rediscovered its unionist roots".
Mr Trimble earlier received a standing ovation from large sections of the conference when he arrived on the platform ahead of a brief Northern Ireland debate, in which Mr Andrew Mackay again demanded the suspension of prisoner releases pending the start of decommissioning by loyalist and republican paramilitaries.
Mr Trimble nodded his assent during key passages of Mr Mackay's attack on the Blair government's handling of the peace process, especially when he quoted Mr Blair's original view that "decommissioning should begin straight away" and when he said Tories would support the simultaneous appointment of the executive and the start to decommissioning "but only if there is a clear and transparent timetable for decommissioning, and a legally binding guarantee that if the IRA fails to deliver, the government will seek Sinn Fein's exclusion from the executive".
Mr Trimble conspicuously did not join in the applause when, after a rehearsal of the Prime Minister's pre-referendum pledges, Mr Mackay declared that Mr Blair had "betrayed the trust of the people of Northern Ireland".
In a section of his keynote speech devoted to Conservative belief in "a free and independent nation", the party leader, Mr William Hague, repeated his support for the Belfast Agreement while rejecting Liberal Democrat charges that he was "irresponsible" to demand the suspension of prisoner releases.
To warm applause Mr Hague told the conference: "We believe in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. We hope and pray for real and permanent peace in Northern Ireland. We continue to support the full implementation of the Good Friday agreement.
"And we give credit to the government for continuing the painstaking work so bravely commenced by John Major."
Mr Hague continued: "I renew my warning, made many times this year, that 18 months after that agreement, the apparatus of terror is intact, the violence continues, and not one gun or bomb has been dismantled or given up. I say that until that changes, no more terrorist murderers should be released from jail."
Conservative party sources insisted that Mr Mackay's speech did not represent an end to bipartisanship, which they said embraced the central approach to the major constitutional issues but did not necessarily extend to the future of policing policy in Northern Ireland.
Amid evidence of mounting Conservative support for the Daily Telegraph campaign to "save the RUC", Mr Mackay stopped short of an actual commitment to oppose whatever Policing Bill the Blair government eventually presents to the Commons, following the consultation paper on the Patten proposals. Mr Mackay said he would not hesitate "to oppose any legislation that we believe undermines the ability of the RUC to combat terrorism and the rule of law".