Jeffrey Donaldson MP is weighing up all his options, writes Gerry Moriarty,Northern Editor.
Mr Peter Robinson has left the door off the latch for Mr Jeffrey Donaldson. There are no indications so far, however, that he will cross that emotional threshold from the UUP into the DUP. He's thinking about it, though.
The Lagan Valley MP is still pondering his next move. He must talk to his friends and supporters. He must test whether there is a sufficient number of disaffected Ulster Unionists who could form a credible breakaway grouping with him, or who might even sign on for the Rev Ian Paisley's team.
Loyal Trimbleite and former Assembly member Dr Esmond Birnie warned that forming new unionist parties is always a disaster for unionism. "We don't need another DUP - Donaldson Unionist Party," he said. Mr Donaldson will love that one.
Yesterday was unusual in that normally after Ulster Unionist Council meetings journalists speculate about the future of Mr David Trimble. The speculation yesterday was about Mr Donaldson.
Late on Monday night Mr Trimble was careful to act in a statesman-like manner towards his persistent tormentor. He wanted Mr Donaldson to remain. The sub-text though triggered a memory of PJ Mara's memorable line about one of those interminable heaves against the then Taoiseach Mr Haughey.
"No more nibbling at my leader's bum," declared Mr Mara after one failed putsch. Mr Trimble couched his language in gentler terms, talking about Mr Donaldson following party policy, but the message was the same: Mr Donaldson must do what Mr Trimble tells him.
Mr Donaldson is pathologically incapable of following the policy laid down by Mr Trimble, which makes it all the more likely that he will quit the UUP. But after almost 22 years it will be an emotional wrench.
Mr Donaldson favours some form of unionist realignment. What that means we don't yet know. It could be a shared understanding between a Donaldson independent unionist faction, the DUP and Mr Robert McCartney's UK Unionist Party. Or it could be full apostasy from the UUP into the DUP. Mr Donaldson would realise the danger here of being submerged within a party of powerful personalities such as Dr Paisley and Mr Robinson. An unwelcome thought for such an ambitious politician. None the less former Ulster Unionist MLA, Mr Peter Weir, now the DUP's man in North Down, assured Mr Donaldson that there would be a welcome on the mat for him at DUP headquarters.
What unfolds may depend on how many Ulster Unionists would walk with Mr Donaldson. Apart from Fermanagh unionist Ms Arlene Foster no UUP heavyweight has indicated he or she would troop out of the party with him.
That must be unsettling for the MP. You can't help but wonder does Mr Donaldson now regret raising the stakes so high in this game by threatening to quit the party if the UUC did not reject the Joint Declaration.
The Trimble wing of the party reckons Mr Donaldson should make his decision sooner rather than later. On Monday night Mr Donaldson said he would hold off until after a no confidence motion in his Lagan Valley association at the end of the month.
Those opponents of Mr Donaldson in Lagan Valley could now withdraw that motion in order to hasten his decision. Politics is always an unpredictable rollercoaster with Mr Trimble. He had a very good night on Monday but there are always worries about what is around the corner.
The British and Irish governments are relieved, however, because they feared he could have been bounced into hardening his position on the Declaration.
That didn't happen. His hands were not tied. Mr Trimble will now shift the focus back onto Sinn Féin and the IRA, demanding a final commitment to end all paramilitary activity that would allow Assembly elections in October.
There is no sign of any such pledges from republicans at the moment, although by October circumstances could change. Mr Gerry Adams has often denounced Mr Trimble for failing to sell the Belfast Agreement and to take on his dissidents. On Monday night Mr Trimble took on Mr Donaldson and won. Could that act of assertion persuade Mr Adams and the IRA to respond with some practical generosity of spirit?