Tensions within the Ulster Unionist Party were mounting tonight as rival sides began a last-minute bid for votes ahead of a ruling council showdown.
With around 900 members of the Ulster Unionist Council due to gather in Belfast tomorrow to decide whether the party should discipline three rebel MPs, insiders claimed the vote was "hard to call".
A UUP source said: "It's really going to be tight and the main focus of interest is going to centre on what position (former Stormont economy minister) Sir Reg Empey adopts."
Sir Reg, a long-time ally of party leader Mr David Trimble, has been critical of the feud within the party and has not endorsed the disciplinary action.
UUP members will be watching closely to see if the east Belfast councillor, who has been a strident advocate of the Belfast Agreement, will back the leadership.
Supporters of three rebel MPs - Mr David Burnside, Mr Jeffrey Donaldson and the Reverend Martin Smyth - have called tomorrow's meeting in a bid to prevent the disciplinary action being taken against them for resigning the party whip. The MPs angered the party leadership in June by resigning the whip at Westminster in a row over policy.
Mr Burnside, Mr Donaldson and Mr Smyth had hoped Ulster Unionists would reject peace process proposals in June from the British and Irish governments.
They were particularly concerned about the Irish government's role on a body monitoring paramilitary ceasefires and the implementation of the Belfast Agreement.
The MPs also objected to plans to devolve policing and justice powers to Stormont, to further cut back on the number of troops and scale down military installations and a proposed scheme enabling paramilitaries who fled Northern Ireland during the Troubles to return without being jailed.
Mr Trimble has maintained his party has always rejected the "on-the-runs" scheme and would only tolerate the creation of a devolved policing and justice ministry if paramilitaries linked to parties abandoned violence.
PA