Mr Jeffrey Donaldson has stated that those politicians, journalists and commentators who suggested that there would not be a major exodus from the Ulster Unionist Party if he were to leave would find he was "not alone".
The Lagan Valley MP, who lost his Ulster Unionist Council showdown with Mr David Trimble on Monday, told The Irish Times yesterday he was likely to be moving towards a decision on his political future early next week.
Mr Donaldson is still refusing to disclose what course of action he will follow - whether he will join the DUP, set up a formal or loose coalition of anti-Belfast Agreement unionists or even remain within the UUP - but said "surprises" were in store.
Mr Donaldson took issue with some of the reporting in this and other media of the council gathering, particularly a reference to how the UUP leader, Mr Trimble, in his post-UUC press conference was joined by several senior party members, while only Enniskillen unionist Ms Arlene Foster joined him for his press conference.
He said he had planned to deliver his statement to the press alone but Ms Foster decided to join him at the press conference table as she had seconded his UUC motion opposing the Joint Declaration.
"The fact that there were 10 people with Trimble and only one with Jeffrey does not mean anything at all.
"You journalists fall for that sort of thing too much. You are such a soft touch you fall for all of this crowd standing around. It is about more than choreography. I just wish sometimes you would actually listen to what people say, rather than looking at who is behind them. Then you might learn something more."
He said he had been swamped with messages of support.
"And not a single person in the hundreds of calls I got said: 'You looked very lonely, why did you not have more people there?' The hundreds said: 'Jeffrey we admire what you said, we agree with what you say, you are absolutely right'."
He said he would be "moving towards" a decision on his future next week. "I think some people are in for a few surprises. I think you will find I am not alone in what I am going to do."
He said had the withdrawn no-confidence motion against him been taken by his Lagan Valley constituency association that it would have been defeated.
He said almost 200 members of the association had presented a petition of support to the association's management committee on Wednesday night expressing confidence in him. (There were about 70 signatories to the no-confidence motion.)
"I won the no-confidence vote. An overwhelming majority of the association endorsed that opinion. I have got that out of the way. That gives me time now to concentrate on matters in hand."
Mr Donaldson said he had no regrets, and that he had not made a tactical mistake in signalling in advance of the UUC that he would resign from the party if his motion calling for a rejection of the Declaration were defeated.
"It was not about upping the stakes. It was about being honest with people, and saying that if the party set aside what to me are very important principles I would have to consider my position."
Mr Donaldson also took a sceptical view of Mr Trimble's appeal to him not to walk away from the party, which he has served for almost 22 years.
An article by Dr Steven King, one of Mr Trimble's advisers, in Wednesday's Belfast Telegraph suggested to him that the UUP leader was not being sincere.
Dr King wrote about Mr Donaldson "spectacularly" miscalculating the views of the UUC, of flunking his confrontation with Mr Trimble, and of not being capable of organising a "half-decent party coup".
Said Mr Donaldson of Mr Trimble's call to him not to resign: "After I read David Trimble's special adviser's article in the Belfast Telegraph, which presumably was approved by David Trimble, I think his words ring rather hollow."