The reconvened Ulster Unionist Council meeting at the Waterfront Hall, Belfast, was marked at times by heated debate, although it did not reach the level of tension and drama of the original debate last November. The meeting took place in private but afterwards it was possible to piece together its main thrust from conversations with delegates.
When Mr Trimble first got up to speak, there was a surprise interruption from Ms Michelle Williamson, both of whose parents were killed by the Shankill bomb planted by the IRA in October 1993. She was not a delegate or even a party member but was brought into the hall by a leading campaigner against the Belfast Agreement.
As soon as he recognised her, the leader yielded the platform to Ms Williamson, who spoke for about two minutes. Informing the audience that she was representing the views of her deceased parents, she said Mr Trimble had signed a petition with 35,000 other people to halt the release of terrorist prisoners but had gone back on his word. She held Mr Trimble personally responsible for entering government with Sinn Fein/IRA and called for his resignation.
There were shouts of approval from some of the younger delegates and some delegates rose to their feet to applaud her speech. However, a Trimble associate later dismissed Ms Williamson's intervention as a "stunt" organised by opponents of the leader.
Mr Trimble then proposed a motion: "The Ulster Unionist Council endorses the resolution of the executive committee of 7 February 2000 in relation to the Patten report; and endorses the recommendation of the leader to establish a broadly based working party to examine the political way ahead in the context of the review.
"In the event of any proposal by the Secretary of State to revoke the suspension of the assembly and executive, before any UUP participation the leader will make a further report to this council."
Proposing the motion, Mr Trimble gave a report on the recent negotiations over decommissioning. He said that at a meeting on Friday, Mr Martin McGuinness had asked for the UUC meeting to be postponed but he had not acceded to any of his demands. He had also received a phone call from Mr Gerry Adams.
He believed the British government would not have moved the suspension legislation and the subsequent order had it not been for his resignation letter. The motion was seconded by the vice-chairman of the Ulster Unionist executive committee, Mr James Cooper, who made a strong plea for party unity. An amendment to Mr Trimble's motion was proposed by Mr David Burnside from the Unionist Information Office in London, linking future participation in the executive with the retention of the "proud name" of the RUC. Almost an hour was spent discussing this amendment but, as the debate was drawing to a close, Mr William Ross MP (East Londonderry) complained in impassioned terms that the president, Sir Josias Cunningham, had not given enough time. Both Mr Ross and another delegate, Mr John Hunter, warned that if the amendment was not adopted, the headlines in the Sunday newspapers would read "UUC disowns RUC".
Mr Trimble spoke again, pleading with the party not to adopt the amendment but to take on board the resolution passed at Monday night's meeting of the executive, which was the correct approach to the RUC issue.
Mr Burnside came to the platform and said he was putting his trust in the leader. He would withdraw the amendment at the request of Mr Trimble but, if sufficient progress were not made on the badge and the name, the amendment would be resubmitted.
Mr Trimble said he had heard "loud and clear" what Mr Burnside said on the RUC. Dropping the amendment was the correct thing to do because it gave the leadership more leverage in the review.
Mr Ross spoke again on the main motion and was very critical of the assembly party and Mr Trimble's leadership for their conduct of negotiations and their failure to prevent the removal of the Union flag from public buildings by Sinn Fein.
Sir Reg Empey former MLA (East Belfast) said he understood the problems raised by Mr Ross but he believed the motion was the only way forward.
Mr Jeffrey Donaldson MP (Lagan Valley) made what opposition delegates described later as a "50-50 speech". He was very critical of the Prime Minister for his alleged failure to keep pledges to the unionist community on decommissioning, but he supported the party leadership's policy of going into the review.
Pro-Trimble delegates complained afterwards about heckling by the members of the youth wing of the party, described as "a small band of yobs" who, it was claimed, had "verbally abused the platform and particularly the leader".
The motion was passed by a show of hands, with Sir Josias estimating that only about 15 out of some 760 delegates had opposed it.