Mr Ken Livingstone, the Independent candidate for London Mayor, has made a surprise intervention in the Northern Ireland peace process - suggesting fresh elections as a possible way out of the decommissioning/devolution impasse.
Following last Saturday's "deeply damaging blow to David Trimble's authority", Mr Livingstone said the Ulster Unionist Party leader "must appeal over the heads of the hardliners directly to unionist voters and ask for them to send him a majority committed to the peace process".
Writing in yesterday's London Independent, Mr Livingstone echoed Mr Gerry Adams's complaint that failure to face down "the rejectionist wing of unionism" had left the process in a precarious state.
The possibility of fresh Assembly elections has also been privately entertained by some senior unionists recently.
Mr Peter Mandelson recently told the House of Commons that a fresh election without a resolution of the arms issue would "at best" confirm the stalemate.