Mr David Trimble has indicated that he will recommend his party returns to government with Sinn Fein at an Ulster Unionist Council meeting on Saturday week.
The meeting, which was due to take place tomorrow, has been postponed to give Mr Trimble time to sell the deal to his party's grassroots. Sources said that if the meeting had gone ahead as scheduled Mr Trimble would have been defeated.
Speaking on television last night, Mr Trimble denied that the meeting had been postponed because he had lost control of his party. He said considerable "confusion and misunderstanding" had existed about the political proposals and it was only now that the situation was "stabilising".
He was anxious that the UUC made an "informed choice". There was a feeling that holding the meeting tomorrow would have too rushed and the UUP should "move at its own pace" and not according to "anybody else's timetable".
Mr Trimble said "a degree of progress" had been made on unionist concerns over policing and the flying of the Union flag. He denied that the Provisional IRA arms offer was not decommissioning.
"The IRA statement says that they will initiate a process to put guns beyond use and will do it completely, verifiably and credibly. Guns beyond use means decommissioning. "Decommissioning means permanently unusable, permanently inaccessible. That is what is to happen."
However, anti-agreement MP Mr Jeffrey Donaldson said the UUP could not accept the current proposals. The only clarification on the IRA statement had been from Mr Tony Blair, and the British government did not speak for the paramilitary group. "Have the IRA clarified what they mean by putting guns beyond use? P. O'Neill, that mythical figure, has been silent for the last week," he said.
The chairman of the Young Unionists, Mr Philip Weir, said by postponing the meeting Mr Trimble was recognising he would have been defeated tomorrow. Mr Weir predicted his party leader would also be defeated in eight days' time. "Whether Mr Trimble has one week to sell the deal or 100 weeks is immaterial. There is nothing to sell. These proposals would have been unacceptable on Saturday and they will be equally unacceptable next Saturday.
"Ulster Unionists are unwilling to ever again overturn party policies or manifesto commitments and require actual verifiable disarmament and the retention of the RUC's name before sharing again in government with the associates of terrorism."
Mr Weir said overturning party policy and risking destroying the UUP would demand "something very special in return". DUP secretary Mr Nigel Dodds said he could not understand why the UUC needed to hold a meeting. "David Trimble has nothing to sell to the unionist council. He has achieved nothing regarding the RUC's name or the flag issue."