"No guns, no government" was the emphatic message of the Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, last night as he, Mr Gerry Adams and Mr John Hume prepared to fly to London for crisis talks with Mr Tony Blair in Downing Street this afternoon.
The British Prime Minister summoned the party leaders back to No 10 in a show of determination to resolve the decommissioning impasse now threatening the Belfast Agreement, despite the unravelling of the compromise thought to have been agreed by the three leaders with Mr Blair and the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, after last Friday's marathon 10-hour negotiation in London.
But the prospects for any early advance appeared slight, with clear evidence emerging from Belfast that Mr Trimble's Assembly colleagues expect him effectively to renegotiate the entire deal.
And the scale of the challenge now confronting him was underlined last night when British and Irish sources flatly contradicted his assertion that the text which he presented to his Assembly colleagues on Saturday was "incomplete".
Asked about Mr Trimble's assertion, one British source said: "If there was anything else to come, I don't know of it." And while it is now clear that some senior British and Irish sources left Downing Street doubting Mr Trimble's ability to "sell" the putative agreement to his party, an Irish source said: "There is no doubt that it was concluded."
It has also now emerged that the final hour of the negotiation last Friday was devoted, not to the issue of decommissioning and the creation of the power-sharing executive, but to the continuing crisis at Drumcree.
Mr Trimble has come under severe internal party criticism for his conduct of last week's negotiation. And whereas on Friday evening he sat alone at a key point with Mr Blair and Mr Ahern, and the SDLP and Sinn Fein leaderships, party sources indicated that he would be accompanied today by Sir Reg Empey, one of those believed to have spoken against the Downing Street proposal at Saturday's meeting of the UUP Assembly Party.
At yesterday's one-hour meeting of the party at Stormont Mr Trimble is understood to have indicated the terms of Downing Street's response to his request for "clarification" of the proposed deal, which would have seen the d'Hondt procedure for the appointment of ministers-designate triggered this week, and anticipated the formal devolution of power by June 30th, following a report on "progress" from the International Decommissioning Commission.
Party sources last night insisted that d'Hondt would not be triggered this week, and that Mr Trimble would instead propose that potential ministers be "identified" but not "nominated".
It is understood Mr Trimble has been pressing No 10 to introduce Assembly Standing Orders (needed to allow the d'Hondt procedure to be operated) which would in effect block the creation of a "shadow" executive, similar to those which were intended to come into force in conjunction with the failed Hillsborough declaration at Easter.
In addition Mr Trimble is seeking to make explicit that the proposed devolution of power on June 30th would be conditional on all parties being satisfied with Gen John de Chastelain's "progress" report on decommissioning, and that the "agreement" would otherwise be void.
While it appears that Downing Street is willing to pursue these issues with Mr Trimble, a letter from Mr Blair's chief-of-staff yesterday made it clear that standing orders would require the agreement of the SDLP and Sinn Fein.
One nationalist source last night suggested neither party would be willing to move if the net result was to negate last Friday's proposal, and entrench the UUP's decommissioning precondition.
Speaking at Stormont yesterday, Mr Trimble again insisted that position was unchanged: "I have stated my position. It is consistent with the position I have stated throughout, from the Assembly elections until now. No guns, no government."
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, is expected to pay a social visit to Chequers, the country residence of the British Prime Minister, for dinner on Saturday night.