The leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, Mr David Trimble, has confirmed that he is still expecting concessions from the British government on the RUC title and badge ahead of Saturday's make-or-break meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council.
To the near certain dismay of the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, Mr Trimble turned the public pressure back on London during a BBC television interview yesterday.
Mr Blair had been hoping to see Mr Trimble focus on "the big picture" argument for accepting the IRA's offer to put weapons beyond use.
Downing Street had made it clear on Wednesday and Thursday that there would be "no more concessions" to the unionists on the policing issue.
However, as he continued his "hard sell" for the deal enabling a return to government with Sinn Fein, Mr Trimble said he believed the British government "has learned the lesson of the folly that was in Patten".
He appeared confident that the Police Bill would be amended to reflect unionist concerns that the RUC should not be subjected to "a symbolic defeat".
Prime Minister's question time in the Commons on Wednesday would seem the only available parliamentary occasion this week for any fresh attempt to bolster Mr Trimble's position before Saturday's meeting.
The certainty of fierce Sinn Fein resistance and the possible risk to the arms deal concluded at Hillsborough on May 5th was spelt out again yesterday when Mr Gerry Adams said his party could not recommend nationalists or republicans joining a new police service on the basis of the legislation published last Tuesday.
Mr Adams and Mr Seamus Mallon, the deputy leader of the SDLP, were enraged by the Bill's failure to confirm that the new force would be known as the Police Service of Northern Ireland, and by Mr Peter Mandelson's subsequent suggestion that, while that probably would be the working title, it might be possible to include RUC in what he termed the "title deeds" of the new policing service.
Some lawyers feel that even a decision to "incorporate" the name RUC on the face of the Bill would be meaningless as it would merely confirm that the RUC had been subsumed. However, there is clear anxiety in Dublin over any formulation designed to help Mr Trimble which would entitle unionists to continue to refer to the police as "the RUC".
The pressure on Mr Trimble will if anything be increased by Mr Adams's confirmation that republicans are not prepared to support the new service on the basis of the legislation as drafted.
Speaking on the BBC's On The Record yesterday, the UUP leader said there was insistence that paramilitaries should not be humiliated and that things should be arranged to convey they had not been defeated, while at the same time nationalists were determined to inflict a defeat on the police.
"That is what the business about stripping them of their proud title, of the royal title, of the crown and of the flag; that's what it means," he told John Humphrys.
"It's a symbolic defeat which for some reason, for some pique of nationalism, they wish to inflict upon the police force, and of course [unionist] people feel that they're going to be humiliated, and what they're insisting with regard to this [UUC] resolution is `we will not be humiliated'."
Mr Trimble continued: "I'm now satisfied that the government has learned the lesson of the folly that was in Patten, and that it is now very anxious to ensure that the police and their families do not feel humiliated, and they're going to reflect that in the future arrangements with regard to the name and the badge."
However, he appeared to give himself a get-out clause when he suggested the UUC had decided it wanted to ensure that the RUC name "does not disappear".
During questioning he appeared also to accept that RUC could be retained while not forming part of the "working title" of the new service.