Mr David Trimble appeared to lessen the threat of an immediate post-election crisis in the North's peace process last night as Scotland Yard put Britain on a heightened security alert.
The threatened "period of danger" of a major dissident republican attack during the British election campaign came as Mr Trimble confirmed he could be re-elected as First Minister even if his post-dated resignation proceeded on July 1st in the absence of significant decommissioning of IRA weapons.
In line with his shock announcement of Tuesday morning, the UUP leader confirmed to The Irish Times that his resignation would not immediately threaten the survival of the power-sharing Executive and that other Ulster Unionist ministers would not immediately follow suit and resign.
This is a potentially significant departure from the tactics which Mr Trimble deployed prior to the first suspension of the Executive in February last year when he pledged his resignation and those of his colleagues to the then president of the Ulster Unionist Council.
The effect is to throw the British and Irish governments at least a six-week lifeline - the period designated by the Assembly's rules for the election of a new First Minister and a new Deputy First Minister - in which to try to resolve the outstanding issues of decommissioning, demilitarisation, policing and the operation of the other institutions of the Belfast Agreement.
It was unclear last night whether such an election might be further delayed because the Assembly would be in recess during August.
However, Mr Trimble confirmed that if substantial progress was made on decommissioning in the period immediately after his threatened resignation he would "expect to be re-elected" to his post as First Minister.
Scotland Yard issued the security alert after intelligence gathered by anti-terrorist officers indicated that dissident republican terrorists could escalate their bombing campaign during the general election.
In response, armed police officers have been posted at strategic points in London and put on high alert for the threat of bomb attacks, possibly a car bomb.
A large anti-terrorist operation is under way which includes members of MI5 and the National Crime Squad.
There have been six terrorist attacks in Britain since last summer, the last at a postal sorting office in north-west London last weekend.
Scotland Yard is operating on the basis that a "Real IRA" terrorist cell, located in London, could consist of former Provisional IRA members and new recruits.
In an assessment of the terrorist threat, the assistant commissioner of Special Operations at Scotland Yard, Mr David Veness, warned: "This is a period of danger; for the terrorists this represents a stage in which all of the political antennae are acute and there is a guarantee of publicity in the weeks ahead. The trend is worrying."