Mr David Trimble's relationship with Mr Tony Blair appeared under mounting strain last night as all sides assessed the British Prime Minister's "absolute" deadline of June 30th for the devolution of power to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Mr Blair's ultimatum followed hard on the heels of Saturday's failure by the Ulster Unionist Assembly party to approve proposals thought to have been agreed by Mr Trimble with the Irish Government, the SDLP and Sinn Fein during Friday's 10-hour negotiation at Downing Street.
The proposals would have seen the d'Hondt procedure for the appointment of ministers in the power-sharing executive triggered this week. Gen John de Chastelain was scheduled to report on "progress" made after an intensive round of talks with the parties on decommissioning.
And it was anticipated that in the light of his report, "without prejudice" to the positions of the parties on that issue, full devolution would be achieved on or before June 30th.
The proposed agreement would have had the parties confirm "that their objective is to achieve total disarmament and the complete withdrawal of all weapons from politics in Ireland", accept "that the issue of arms must finally and satisfactorily be settled", and undertake to "do what they can to achieve the decommissioning of paramilitary arms within the timeframe set down in the agreement".
However, it is understood eight members of the UUP Assembly party told Mr Trimble they could not accept the proposal as it stood, despite his insistence that "progress" reported by Gen de Chastelain would mean that "actual decommissioning" was under way or else the "agreement" would be void.
Mr Blair was widely reported to be "disappointed" by Mr Trimble's failure to deliver his party. A Downing Street spokesman cast doubt on this, pointing to Mr Trimble's announcement that his party had "reserved" its position and that he was continuing to consult colleagues.
However, significantly, more doubt was cast on the nature of that internal unionist consultation - and on what was actually agreed in Downing Street - when Mr Trimble last night told The Irish Times the document he had presented "in a positive way" to his Assembly party "was not complete", and that he had not asked his colleagues to endorse it because there were "still things to be sorted out".
This jarred with the clear expectation in London that the Ulster Unionist leader would have been in a position to confirm a deal on Saturday afternoon. Such was the apparent state of certainty that the Sunday newspapers were briefed on the outline of the proposals even as Mr Trimble made his way to Stormont, and Downing Street subsequently alerted the media to expect a significant announcement at 5 p.m. that day.
With the Taoiseach travelling to Leicester, Irish Government sources had confirmed that Number 10 would be making the statement, given a positive response from Mr Trimble.
Instead of the expected breakthrough, the statement announced: "The Prime Minister has set a deadline of June 30th for the devolution of power. The Prime Minister has told the parties that the deadline is absolute."
It continued: "We have made real progress in the last few days and there are proposals being discussed which we believe will get the process back on track. They do not challenge the fundamental positions of the parties. They do force people to face up to the decisions that have to be made to implement the Good Friday agreement in full. The Prime Minister and the Taoiseach have invested a huge amount in the process, and are both clear that progress has to be made."
Asked if Downing Street was correct to say he had agreed the document and returned to Belfast to "sell it" to his party, Mr Trimble said: "That's an overstatement . . . There were elements in the thing I agreed with. But what I left with was not complete because the evening had dragged out so long that there were important things that were not dealt with."
While confirming that "Downing Street had reason to believe that I was going to recommend it", he added: "That was on the assumption that we had got everything done. We didn't."
Specifically outstanding, Mr Trimble said, were draft standing orders covering the scenario which would arise if "progress" on decommissioning was not made. He said he had "a very clear view of what `progress' means in terms of what de Chastelain might report".
And indeed he indicated he would be meeting the general "to confirm that is his view also". Mr Trimble is this morning urged to make a leap of faith and enter into a power-sharing governmental executive with Sinn Fein prior to IRA decommissioning.
Ulster's unionist daily newspaper, the News Letter, today gives its backing to the Ulster Unionist Party leader doing what he has said so far he will not countenance, "provided he can broker a deal guaranteeing a start to decommissioning early in the executive's life".