Mr Jeffrey Donaldson is to press ahead with his Ulster Unionist Council confrontation with Mr David Trimble, despite expected British government assurances that the Northern Ireland battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment will not be disbanded.
Mr Donaldson also plans to open a new front in his effective challenge against the UUP leader by claiming that the International Monitoring Body, which would deal with sanctions against defaulting Assembly members, and which Mr Trimble supported, would give the Irish Government an unacceptable involvement in the Assembly.
The Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, and the British Defence Secretary, Mr Geoff Hoon, are to holds talks shortly on the future of the three Northern Ireland-based battalions of the RIR, numbering 3,000 troops. A full or partial reprieve for these battalions is expected to be announced next week.
Under the terms of the Hillsborough Joint Declaration, troop levels in the North would be reduced to 5,000 if the IRA demonstrates it is no longer an active force. There were British army indications last week that these would only be regular troops and that the local RIR would be disbanded, which caused unionist anger.
Mr Trimble warned that he would not "lift a finger" in favour of the Joint Declaration if assurances were not provided on the future of the RIR. Mr Donaldson seized the opportunity to call another Ulster Unionist Council meeting for June 16th, where he will also demand a complete rejection of the Joint Declaration.
According to informed sources, the British government plans to issue a clarifying statement, saying that in the event of the required IRA movement, some or all of the local RIR would be among the 5,000 troops remaining in the North.
This has not mollified Mr Donaldson, who told The Irish Times yesterday that despite any guarantees about the RIR, he would proceed with his UUC motion on the Joint Declaration. "If we do get a concession on the Royal Irish it will be because people like myself put on enormous pressure, and in calling this meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council we have forced the government's hand," he said.
Mr Donaldson said he did not want to personalise the UUC clash in terms of him and Mr Trimble, but said the current difficulties arose because of the "failure of Ulster Unionist negotiators" in the talks leading to the Joint Declaration, one of whom was Mr Trimble.
He again indicated that if his motion rejecting the Joint Declaration was defeated, he might walk away from the Ulster Unionist Party. "There are a lot of people who feel the way I do in the party, some of them very senior," added Mr Donaldson.
Mr Donaldson said he would also be focusing on the International Monitoring Body. This was a key issue for Mr Trimble in the negotiations because he believed it was a mechanism that could lead to penalties against Sinn Féin, up to and including expulsion from the Executive, if the IRA broke its commitments. Sinn Féin vehemently opposed the sanctions body.
Mr Donaldson said the body, which would have members from Northern Ireland, Britain, the US and the Republic, would "give the Irish Government an absolutely clear, very important role in the internal workings of the Assembly, and that is a breach of a key unionist principle".