Northern Ireland has been plunged into political uncertainty following the decision by the Northern Secretary to suspend the new devolved institutions and reimpose direct rule from London from midnight last night.
The move by Mr Peter Mandelson was announced at Stormont shortly before 6 p.m. It means that the Executive, the Assembly, the North-South Ministerial Council and the British/Irish Council have all been put on hold pending the outcome of an indefinite review process involving the Northern parties and the British and Irish governments.
While Mr David Trimble and Mr Seamus Mallon no longer occupy the posts of First and Deputy First Minister, they can be reinstated without having to undergo an election under the parallel consent rule of the Assembly. It was virtually certain that if Mr Trimble had carried out his threat to resign as First Minister he would not have secured the necessary majority of unionists and nationalists for reelection.
The suspension sets the scene for a successful outcome for Mr Trimble from today's meeting of the 860-strong Ulster Unionist Council in Belfast's Waterfront Hall. In a previous meeting of the council last November the UUP leader secured only 58 per cent support for his policy of conditional entry to a power-sharing executive including Sinn Fein.
However, while Mr Mandelson may have ensured the UUP leader's political survival, he has aroused bitter recrimination from republicans, who claim that he was "panicked" into the suspension by threats of Mr Trimble's resignation.
Republicans also accused the Northern Secretary of leaking the initial report on decommissioning by Gen John de Chastelain as cover for his actions. British government sources strongly rejected this version of events.
Responding to republican claims that the Northern Secretary was aware of significant moves on decommissioning by the IRA before he took the decision to suspend the institutions, London insisted that Mr Mandelson had already signed the ministerial order before the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, announced that a new proposition was on the way.
The claim and counter-claim are likely to continue over the weekend in the aftermath of the release of the second report from Gen de Chastelain. This indicated for the first time that the IRA was prepared to put its weapons "beyond use".
London believes that the suspension move may have jolted the IRA into its first significant initiative on decommissioning. Previously there had been "a lot of words, a lot of pieces of paper", but there had been doubts about the seriousness of Sinn Fein's negotiations with the paramilitary wing of the republican movement.
Angry republicans completely rejected this scenario and also expressed disappointment with Dublin's stance, which they claimed had been insufficiently firm.
Interlocutors from the IRA met Gen de Chastelain yesterday and the outcome was last night's report. However, when Mr Mandelson announced his decision to suspend the institutions, the Northern Ireland Office did not know what was going to be in the report.
There is now likely to be a cooling-off period of at least a couple of weeks. No format for the review of the agreement has yet been drawn up, but there is speculation that a "low-profile international figure" may be asked to chair it.
British sources said last night that while the latest de Chastelain report was welcome and constituted progress, further clarification was needed. Although the report had opened a path which might eventually lead to a lifting of the suspension of the institutions, this was not just a matter for the two governments.