The bitter divisions within Ulster Unionism were further exposed last night after it emerged that Mr David Trimble and Mr Jeffrey Donaldson face no confidence votes in their respective constituency associations.
This was another sign of how the Trimble and Donaldson camps are playing for very high stakes as Monday's Ulster Unionist Council confrontation between the UUP leader and the Lagan Valley MP approaches.
A letter with 25 signatories is being sent to the Upper Bann constituency association demanding a special meeting to discuss a no confidence motion in its MP, Mr Trimble. A party spokesman said he was not surprised by the move, but was confident Mr Trimble would retain the support of his association.
In Lagan Valley, 70 opponents of Mr Donaldson have called a constituency association meeting to discuss a no confidence motion in their MP. Mr Donaldson told The Irish Times last night that he was confident he would see off the challenge comfortably.
Both the Trimble and Donaldson camps have depicted the respective motions as part of the manoeuvrings before the UUC meeting.
Mr Donaldson has also written to all 860 UUC delegates, setting out why he believes his motion calling for a rejection of the Hillsborough Joint Declaration should be adopted on Monday.
His letter deals in detail with why he opposes the Declaration. "The Declaration should be set aside and we should go back to the negotiating table to address all of these issues. What I want to achieve at that negotiation table is closure on over 30 years of conflict," he said.
"The problem with the current arrangements is that whilst they clearly have the support of nationalists, they are only now supported by less than one third of unionists, and that position is not sustainable," added Mr Donaldson.
Trimble ally Sir Reg Empey said that his camp would be tabling amendments to the Donaldson resolution on Monday, although he would not declare his hand in explaining how the perceived leadership challenge from Mr Donaldson would be resisted.
He told BBC's Hearts and Minds programme last night that the in-fighting in Lagan Valley and Upper Bann was a direct result of the Donaldson UUC challenge. He said he did not want another split, or Mr Donaldson to leave the party.
He warned, however, that the repeated calling of UUC meetings was undermining the party, and said this latest meeting was taking the pressure off republicans.
"If things had been left alone we would be talking about the failure of republicans to deal with their weapons, 'Stakeknife', and republican discomfort. But republicans are able to sit back, fold their arms, and laugh their heads off while we have this internal party gutting-match," Sir Reg added.