Mr John Taylor has twice threatened to resign as deputy leader of the Ulster Unionist Party in the past fortnight, The Irish Times has learned.
Reports of Mr Taylor's resignation threat - in a bitter dispute over his refusal to endorse the party's candidate, Mr Jim Nicholson - were confirmed last night as the polls closed in Northern Ireland's European election.
The news came just hours after Mr Taylor gave his clearest signal yet that he would not support any shift in Mr David Trimble's declared position on IRA decommissioning as the price of Sinn Fein entry into a power-sharing executive.
And it coincided with an equally clear signal of Mr Tony Blair's determination on a post-election push to meet the June 30th devolution deadline - the first round of renewed negotiations with Mr Trimble, Mr Taylor and Sir Reg Empey in Downing Street - even before the last votes were cast.
Senior British sources last night did nothing to dampen speculation that the Prime Minister and the Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, want to trigger the d'Hondt procedure for the nomination of ministers-designate in the putative executive as early as next Wednesday.
UUP sources said privately they believed Mr Trimble would be prepared to do so, not least as a means of returning pressure on Sinn Fein over decommissioning. They noted that Mr Trimble had declined to give an undertaking not to trigger d'Hondt without a prior agreement on decommissioning, despite the opposition of a majority at a recent meeting of his party officers.
Triggering d'Hondt would require a full meeting of the Assembly, whose next scheduled business is to debate a DUP-sponsored motion seeking Sinn Fein's exclusion from the executive.
The febrile state of the Ulster Unionist Party was starkly illustrated by the news of Mr Taylor's willingness to resign in the dispute over Mr Nicholson, and by his warning yesterday that the party would be prepared to see the Belfast Agreement collapse if the IRA refused to begin handing over its weapons.
In what was being interpreted as a direct warning to Mr Trimble as well as to both governments, Mr Taylor told visiting American students from Syracuse University in London: "I take this opportunity to leave no one in any doubt - including the Prime Minister and President Clinton - that Ulster Unionists will not serve in any executive with Sinn Fein whilst their IRA colleagues refuse to begin decommissioning illegal armaments. If this means the failure of the Belfast Agreement, so be it.".
Authoritative party sources last night told The Irish Times Mr Taylor had decided not to carry through his resignation threat, because it would have damaged Mr Nicholson's re-election campaign.
However, they confirmed the threat was made - separately to the party chairman, Mr Denis Rogan, and subsequently to Mr Trimble - in direct response to pressure from senior officers over Mr Taylor's refusal to urge voters specifically to give Mr Nicholson their first-preference votes, because of his acknowledgement of an extra-marital affair.
Mr Trimble reportedly confirmed the resignation threat at an election-planning meeting in Glengall Street - the UUP's HQ - 10 days ago. Urged by a number of colleagues to bring Mr Taylor into line, he is understood to have replied: "I can do that if you want his resignation."
