While emotions among Ulster Unionist Council delegates on Saturday ranged from open delight to bitter disappointment, few doubted that the outcome represented a last chance for David Trimble.
A "confessed Trimbleite", Mr Roy Leckey from Craigavon, said he believed the party leader had pushed the council as far as he could. "This is David's last chance, he has got to deliver. He can't keep coming back to the party forever for votes." Mr Leckey said he believed delegates had been swayed by the fact that at the last minute Mr Jeffrey Donaldson had seemed unwilling to compromise.
"Donaldson went for the jugular and people thought `Let's give David one more chance' but you can be sure it's going to be his last," he said.
Mr Leckey remained unconvinced on whether excluding Sinn Fein ministers from North/South Ministerial meetings would be practicable.
"If Bairbre de Brun gets quietly into her car next Friday and goes to the meeting, do you think the Irish Government will turn her away? And will her officials be excluded, too?"
Mr David Archer, a delegate from Lagan Valley and personal assistant to Mr Donaldson, said Mr Trimble had "again scraped through" but was facing an "exodus" of members in January if he did not deliver by then.
"To be honest, if things continue like that into next year, a fair number of people will leave the party. I certainly will.
"At the moment I can still remain as long as there is a `no guns, no government' policy of some sort, but come January, if nothing has changed, I am going to leave.
"I have no confidence whatsoever in Gen de Chastelain and the closest thing we have to concrete proposals now is to keep Sinn Fein ministers from attending North/South meetings. Now that is completely irrelevant to the people in the street - they don't even know that those bodies exist."
Mr Declan Harrison, from Lambeg could not hide his disappointment.
"I believe Jeffrey presented a very strong case and the younger element was behind him. Everybody believes in `no guns, no government' and I frankly don't see why we should change that."
Mr Ross Williamson from Lagan Valley, who sported a `Don't blame me, I voted No' sticker on his lapel, said the gap between the two factions had narrowed.
"It was a very close vote. I supported Jeffrey's motion but at the end of the day what we all want is decommissioning, and if Trimble's motion brings that about, all the better. But I feel we will just be coming back here in January facing the same questions."
"After all this, I think it will take at least a generation to reunite the party," Mr Williamson said.
Ms Alison Bennett, an East Belfast substitute delegate, said she was hopeful the vote represented "the end of all these meetings", adding: "I think the council has realised that it is best to leave it to the strategists. They realised that David Trimble comes through these things each time due to his skill and his ability."
Prof Anthony Alcock from Portstewart had voted for the motion but claimed nobody realistically expected decommissioning to occur.
"One of the problems of this party is that it puts silly things in its manifestos. It can't control the guns of the IRA: the only people who can do that are the British and Irish governments."
While pleased with the result, Mr John Pierce, from Eglington near Derry, said he was worried that 45 per cent of party delegates had voted against Mr Trimble.
"I believe those 45 per cent should now rally behind the leader . . . We need to be united to move forward. I don't think today has solved the problem but it certainly has gone in the right direction."
Mr John Hanna from Ban bridge said the real issue had simply been one of tactics, not of personalities. "I am delighted with the result . . . I believe the logical and sensible tactics have won the day . . . It was not realistic at all to set an end of November deadline for decommissioning. It would have left too many people off the hook."
He was heartened by the "good-humoured" atmosphere of the meeting, Mr Hanna added. "There were times when some people behaved less well than they should have, but on the whole, people listened to each other's point of view . . . I think we have swallowed all the bitter pills and all the pain, now it's time to reap the gain."