David Trimble tells Dan Keenan that the UUP's election campaign is going better than in 1998.
Mr David Trimble arrives back at his party headquarters in Belfast behind schedule. That day he has presented a morning press conference, been involved in a fierce public row with the Rev Ian Paisley's DUP on the pavement outside and canvassed in his constituency of Upper Bann.
Now he's back in Belfast to finalise his arrangements for the next day in a campaign which, he says, is going better than the first Assembly election in 1998.
"That's consistent," he says. "I've been in every constituency except North Belfast so far, and every candidate I've addressed has said the same thing. When I ask: 'what's it like, how does it compare to last time?' they all say 'better'."
Already he is looking ahead to the post-election landscape, sticking to his insistence that republicans have to face up to reality and make their transition complete and transparent, otherwise there can be no movement.
"Let's be clear about this. There will not be political progress without effective acts of completion. The two-year transition in the agreement may have been over-optimistic, but 5½ years is too long."
Asked if he would re-enter talks with Mr Gerry Adams, he makes it clear he will wait as long as it takes to get what he believes his electorate needs.
"The point one would have to make to republicans is that don't think that you can get it back on track with just another gesture; it has got to be something leading to a genuine completion of the transition. That means, yes, resumption of decommissioning - but in a context in which it's clear that it is going to be completed, and completed fairly quickly.
"That is the key thing. If Mr Adams comes forward with that in the aftermath of the election then fine. But if he doesn't then we could be waiting for some time."
The DUP has accused him of being unable to canvass in his Upper Bann constituency; is that true? He turns the accusation around. "There is an orchestrated attempt to interfere with canvassing. My wife and other candidates and election workers were in Portadown this afternoon, and when the DUP noticed it they started to harass them.
"I know there is an organised arrangement when I'm seen in the area that they will do what they can to harass me. I think it's quite rich of the DUP to boast of this because what they're boasting about is not my problem but their own wrongdoing."
He harbours qualms about the recent finger-stabbing row on the pavement with his DUP opponents, fearing it will switch off potential voters.
"Most unionists will not be pleased, but we couldn't ignore it. He (Paisley) had come and put himself right outside party headquarters to make an attack on me knowing that I was inside. So we did what had to be done."
As for allegations that his party remains riven with splits involving Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, Mr Trimble contradicts the image of factionalism within the UUP. The party is "much better then many people thought".
"The business of drawing up the Ulster Unionist Charter at the beginning really drew the sting out of things, and I know that some people thought there would be issues over the manifesto but the manifesto is so clearly based in that (charter) and other issues simply haven't arisen."
But couldn't the problems of candidates in the same constituency fighting each other for first preferences cost the party valuable final seats?
"Well, they don't help when they break out because it means the effectiveness of the campaign diminishes with candidates arguing."
Mr Trimble believes the Taoiseach was premature when he described the situation as a total mess following the debacle at Hillsborough last month.
"Perhaps it's not the most diplomatic thing to say, but I think we got further towards [sorting out a deal with Sinn Féin] than Blair and Ahern did earlier in the year. But it wasn't there. The problem crystalised over transparency and decommissioning, but don't think that that's the only problem."
Just as there is no countenance of election reversals, there will be no thought of resignation.
"I'm fighting an election believing - and I do believe - that we are going to do well. So I am not contemplating any other possibility, and I am certainly not going to discuss it."
Mr Trimble has offered a dogged defence of the agreement, saying it's good for the union and unionism - yet so many of the people he wants to convince remain sceptical. Why is that? The answer, like the man himself, is complex.
"Because it's a question of timescales. The difficulties for unionists have been short-term difficulties; the benefits are long term. It's also [a case of] different perception. The response we get from unionists is that it's a one-way street of concessions to nationalists only. Some of those things unionists see as concessions to nationalists aren't actually.
He continues: "If republicans are abandoning the terrorist campaign to participate in peaceful politics where the outcome is determined by a vote in a context where there is a clear unionist majority - are republicans really gaining? Are not unionists to gain? This is the difference in perception between seeing something and seeing what the significance of it is going to be in the longer term."
Politics is a serious business in Northern elections and he is not known for his comedy. But we end as we begin with a reference to the clash on the kerb outside his headquarters.
Has the Rev Paisley made any contribution to unionism over his long career? Mr Trimble takes a long pause and offers: "I can't think what it might be".