The review facilitator, Senator George Mitchell, was left in no doubt about the depth of hostility to the Belfast Agreement from the unionist No bloc when he met the smaller parties at Stormont yesterday.
Mr Robert McCartney claimed he (Mr Mitchell) had lost the heart for the job of saving the agreement, while Mr Cedric Wilson of the Northern Ireland Unionist Party urged him to leave Northern Ireland, and if he did not he would consider taking a judicial review to have him ousted as the review anchor man.
The Ulster Unionist Assembly Party, said that in common with the NIUP it would boycott the review because it had no faith in the process. Mr McCartney, the UK Unionist Party leader, has yet to decide whether he will also boycott the review. The Democratic Unionist Party has stated it will have no dealings with Sinn Fein in the review and if it does engage in the process its sole purpose will be to "wreck" the initiative.
In the face of so much negativity it was perhaps understandable that Mr Mitchell took the uncharacteristic step of responding to Mr McCartney's jibe that he was "a dispirited man who was showing no indication of the slightest optimism" in his review.
In a statement issued through his official spokesman, Mr Mitchell insisted the job was not getting him down. "The senator was in good form all day but if there was a moment when he became dispirited, it was probably at the prospect of having to listen to Robert McCartney," the statement said.
Mr Wilson said his meeting with Mr Mitchell was "stormy" and "bruising". He said Mr Mitchell was not an independent facilitator because he was an "enforcement officer" for the agreement. Therefore he should resign.
Mr Mitchell will have taken some comfort from the pro-agreement parties he met yesterday. Alliance, the Progressive Unionist Party, the Ulster Democratic Party and the Women's Coalition reiterated their faith in the accord and in the former US senator.
The Alliance leader, Mr Sean Neeson, however, complained that the review was being threatened by the "blind arrogance" of the Ulster Unionist Party and Sinn Fein, which "could hand victory to the No camp who are determined to wreck the process". Mr Billy Hutchinson, of the PUP, said there was "no alternative other than to sort this out".
Ms Monica McWilliams, of the Women's Coalition, said the integrity of the agreement must be larger than the integrity of any party or individual. She urged Yes parties to set aside self-interest in the interests of everyone who supported the agreement.
The UDP leader, Mr Gary McMichael, said his party was still fully committed to helping ensure a successful outcome to the review, but he doubted whether Sinn Fein and the UUP were ready to find a workable compromise in the impasse over "guns and government".
This morning after briefing the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, and the Minister of State at Foreign Affairs, Ms Liz O'Donnell, on progress to date, Mr Mitchell will adjourn the review until Monday to allow tomorrow's Patten report on policing to be digested.