For Peter Mandelson, the concluding debate in the Commons on reforming the RUC probably produced incontrovertible proof that at least he was getting the balance about right, even if he had to endure personal discomfort and irritation. Parity of pain is a concept familiar to students of the peace process. Last weekend found Mr David Trimble feeling the pain. The First Minister and his Secretary of State of choice were locked in a bruising encounter over Mr Mandelson's proposed definition of the "operational" purposes of the replacement name for the RUC, the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Now here was Seamus Mallon denouncing New Labour's dark prince for "political chicanery" in failing to provide it. And there was no doubt it was the Northern Ireland Secretary who was feeling the pain as Mr Mallon dramatically told MPs on Tuesday night that Mr Mandelson now stood "very little chance" of persuading Catholics to join the new service.
Non-students of the process (of whom there are many) groan at these endless arguments over the minutiae of Northern Ireland policy. However, for the SDLP, the issue at stake was no esoteric point of parliamentary draftsmanship. The nationalist demand for definition sprang directly from the British government's acceptance last Thursday of a unionist proposal "incorporating the Royal Ulster Constabulary" in the so-called "title deeds" of the new service.
In truth, British ministers believed the acceptance of Mr Ken Maginnis's new clause - with Conservative and Liberal Democrat backing - marked a decisive breakthrough in the whole policing debate.
For, crucially, Mr Maginnis (and Mr Trimble) had accepted that the body of constables referred to should be "styled for operational purposes the Police Service of Northern Ireland".
Independent lawyers had previously made clear their view that the Maginnis amendment had little practical consequence - that "incorporation" indeed marked the passing of the RUC title for all practical, everyday purposes. Moreover, one senior UUP source this week acknowledged that while technically he thought the Maginnis new clause could pass the so-called "letter-head test" - so the words "incorporating the Royal Ulster Constabulary" might appear on the Chief Constable's note paper - in fact they would not.
However, Dublin and the SDLP homed in on that word "styled" - alarmed apparently by the possibility that this piece of legal jargon would enable those so minded to continue referring to the police by the old title.
Accepting the unionist proposal in committee last Thursday, the Minister of State, Mr Adam Ingram, signalled that he would have to amend it further - both to embrace the full-time reserve, and to provide a definition of "operational". Mr Ingram confirmed that definition would embrace "all working, public, legal and ceremonial purposes" in respect of the new service.
However, that was not enough for Mr Eddie McGrady, the SDLP chief whip, who divided the committee and found himself in the unusual position of being defeated by 17 votes to one.
By the following afternoon, after intensive discussions between British and Irish officials, the list had expanded to embrace all "working, public, legal, ceremonial, administrative, presentational and recruitment purposes". It could hardly have been more clear. Unfortunately for Mr Mandelson it seemed so to Mr Trimble's deputy, Mr John Taylor, who had made "assurances" about the RUC title central to his support for the UUP's decision to re-enter the Executive with Sinn Fein last May.
Speaking from somewhere abroad, the Strangford MP accused Mr Mandelson of a "double-cross", said the meaning of the Mandelson amendment would be to nullify the effect of the earlier concession, and raised a fresh question mark over the security of Mr Trimble's position in the Assembly.
"At the very last minute it appears we are about to be betrayed, and if that is the case it will be very difficult to win (a party vote) the next time," he told the Daily Telegraph.
Some leading pro-agreement unionists actually think the British government wrong to obsess quite so much about Mr Taylor's weight and influence. They would not, however, suggest London is wrong to obsess about Mr Trimble's precarious grip on the numbers necessary to sustain his position as First Minister.
If Mr Mallon rests content that there can be no turning back on devolution, London appears to have a better grasp of the challenges still confronting Mr Trimble - not least the South Antrim by-election, and his party conference - in the autumn.
And so, late on Tuesday night, the decision was confirmed - and Mr Mandelson stepped back from a last-minute confrontation during what is already a testing week for the Ulster Unionist leader and Upper Bann MP. A Northern Ireland Office spokesman gamely proffered the official line: Mr Mandelson had said he would "listen to the debate", and there simply wasn't time for that debate, either on his own amendment or on that standing in Mr Mallon's name.
The government would now conduct that debate informally between the parties and hope for a consensus come the autumn, when the Bill returns from the House of Lords.
Nobody was buying that. Mr Trimble and Mr Maginnis, bolstered doubtless by Mr Taylor's intervention, had obviously persuaded the Secretary of State to kick the issue into touch. And Mr Mandelson had clearly decided to buy himself some time. However, for all the rage Mr Mallon would pour forth on the Commons floor, to outside observers it seemed no more than that - an exercise in sensible management of a delicate part of the process during a particularly "mad" month of July.
As to the British government's ultimate intention - it was made clear on Tuesday, as before, that the "Police Service of Northern Ireland" will be the "only" name or title with currency.
Mr Mandelson was no doubt speaking from the heart when he told Mr Mallon he was "sad" at hearing him suggest that Tuesday night's events had done "irreparable damage to the prospect of a new policing dispensation" in Northern Ireland. But the thought may have occurred that the SDLP's abstention had actually put the party in a more comfortable position vis-a-vis Sinn Fein than its earlier, surprise decision to support the Bill at a second reading.
More importantly, Mr Mandelson will have comforted himself with the fact that - however he characterised the difficulties now in play - Mr Mallon retained his commitment to ensuring that "new beginning" for policing, and reserved his position by abstaining rather than voting against.
