After one of France's greatest composers had turned down his country's highest civilian honour, an observer acidly remarked that "Monsieur Ravel has refused the Legion d'Honneur, when all his music demands it."
Their critics in Northern Ireland would probably feel the same about the DUP ministers. Last night we saw Mr Peter Robinson on television walking into his office and giving an interview to the BBC's Mark Simpson. He and Mr Nigel Dodds will no doubt be performing all their public functions - Mr Robinson as Minister of Regional Development, Mr Dodds with the Social Development portfolio - just the same as before, although their loyalty will be to their party, not to the Executive.
Low farce or high politics? Pantomime or power play? It all depends on your point of view. The one result of the DUP's new guerrilla strategy has been to unite disparate elements in the North against it. Peter Mandelson and Seamus Mallon have not been seeing eye-to-eye on the Police Bill but they spoke with one voice on the DUP.
"We're not going to sit and watch these two fellows playing games with the future," said Mr Mallon. The Northern Secretary was more diplomatic, making the point that people who voted for DUP candidates should be properly represented by them. Having deliberated all day on Tuesday, the DUP left it until after 10 p.m. to announce their new approach. Reporters' heads spun as they tried to make instant sense of the complex strategy unveiled in the 14-page document distributed at the news conference in east Belfast.
First, the DUP would seek to gather the 30 signatures required in the Assembly to table a motion for the exclusion of Sinn Fein from government. Under the rules for cross-community voting, this motion could not be implemented without nationalist support, which would not be forthcoming.
Nevertheless the DUP would try to secure the backing of 60 per cent of unionist members, who would then be expected to form a cohesive bloc which would exercise a veto in the future on what the DUP terms "the all-Ireland process". Since achieving that level of unionist support is unlikely, Mr Robinson and Mr Dodds would then resign their ministries and hand them over on a rotating basis to other DUP Assembly members. This strategy would continue until the next Westminster election.
Mr Trimble was dismissive, suggesting it was more Heath Robinson than Peter Robinson. Since the Westminster election is expected in about a year's time, the bottom line is that Mr Robinson and Mr Dodds would be in a position to go back full-time to their departments from then until the next Assembly elections, which are several years away.
The DUP has been outwitted in the past on parliamentary procedure and while Mr Trimble's ability at grassroots cajoling has been questioned, he has displayed considerable cunning in tactics. Mr Mallon is no slouch in this department either and it was no surprise to hear last night that something was being cooked up to block the DUP plan.
If the counter-attack fails, it will leave the DUP enjoying the best of both worlds: in government and opposition at the same time, performing as ministers while preparing to overthrow the despised Trimble-Mallon regime in the next election.
However, political insiders were confident Mr Robinson and his colleagues would live to regret their demarche. The DUP's political enemies claimed the whole elaborate scheme was devised to cloak divisions between the religious and secular tendencies in the party.
There was a view, however, that Assembly standing orders needed drastic revision to take account of such occurrences and it would not be surprising if Mr Mandelson's skills in this regard, demonstrated to effect during the reinstatement of Mr Mallon as Deputy First Minister, were again called into service.
While there was a temptation to regard the DUP manoeuvre as a dagger at the heart of the new dispensation, there was also the prospect that it would generate some old-fashioned political stagecraft which is the lifeblood of any functioning parliament.
Another threat to stability is the flags issue, which will be discussed at this afternoon's meeting of the Executive, the first since suspension. It is understood that no decision will be taken on the issue, which can seem so trivial yet contains the potential to generate great emotion.
The list of 20 days when the Union flag is scheduled to be hoisted on government buildings this year does not bespeak an inclusive society. It is unlikely that many nationalists would wish to honour the birthdays of the Earl of Wessex or Princess Margaret in a ceremonial fashion, not to mention the Battle of the Boyne and the "Anniversary of Her Majesty's Wedding".
In this, as in so many other respects, some way must be devised for unionists to express their identity while at the same time acknowledging nationalist sensitivities. Mr Mandelson's decision to reserve the ultimate power to himself can only be a short-term expedient.
There will be other, more pedestrian issues under discussion. The Minister of Finance and Personnel, Mr Mark Durkan, has apparently found some spare doubloons in his sea-locker which can be dispensed in the appropriate quarter. Somehow one feels that they will not be going in the direction of the DUP departments.