Journalists weren't allowed into the Ulster Unionist Council meeting but Gerry Moriarty pieces together what happened
"Sit here, Jeffrey," said Mr David Trimble, tapping the seat of the chair beside him. Mr Donaldson smiled his noncommittal smile as the cameras clicked and the flashlights flashed in the press interview room.
Mr Donaldson placed his hand on the back of the chair one seat removed from his leader. "No Jeffrey, come a lot closer to me," said Mr Trimble. But then the president of the Ulster Unionist Council, the Rev Martin Smyth interposed himself between the two, taking the seat Mr Trimble wanted Mr Donaldson to take.
But tactically this was as close as the two politicians have ever been in recent years. It was indeed an odd sight, a new experience for reporters, the pro- and anti-Belfast wings of the party together at one table. At previous Ulster Unionist Council meetings the Yes and No people gave separate press conferences.
From left to right we had Ms Arlene Foster, Mr Donaldson, Mr Smyth, Mr Trimble, Mr James Cooper, Sir Reg Empey and Mr Jim Rodgers. Hardly a happy family but, considering the internecine blood-letting that had gone on before, it represented something of a picture of reconciliation.
The body language was a bit tense but here were politicians at least making a show of unity. Among those standing behind the seated ones were Lord Denis Rogan, Mr Jim Nicholson MEP and Mr Jack Allen. These were some of the so-called men in grey suits who, along with many obscure responsibilities, are invested with the task of gently but firmly advising leaders when it is time to quit the stage.
There were dark mutterings all week that their services would be required on Saturday. But no, they looked happy, which made Mr Trimble happy.
Earlier that morning in the Ramada Hotel, few would have predicted it would have turned out so well for Mr Trimble. Before the meeting Mr Donaldson, Mr Rodgers and Ms Foster for the sceptics gathered in an ante room with Mr Trimble, Sir Reg Empey and party chairman Mr Cooper to test if anyone was prepared to blink.
They weren't. The meeting began shortly after 10 a.m. More than 700 of the 900 or so entitled to attend turned up for the meeting, some of them very elderly. It was a passionate affair by all accounts but conducted reasonably harmoniously, 11 speakers for Mr Trimble, 11 for Mr Donaldson.
Mr Donaldson outlined his detailed motion, which was seconded by Ms Foster, and said it was vital that the party take a hardline. A key element of his motion was the demand that the party withdraw from the North-South Ministerial Council and that, if Tony Blair failed to exclude Sinn Féin ministers from the Executive, the party would pull out of the Executive "at a time of our choosing".
Mr Trimble's motion was seconded by Mr Cooper (who heads the Enniskillen solicitors' practice of which Ms Foster is a member). Mr Trimble said pulling out of the North-South bodies would be a waste of time and opposed withdrawing from the Executive sooner than the three months that he was proposing, if the IRA failed to clear off the stage.
He described Mr Donaldson's motion as "too limp". Earlier in the week his predecessor, Lord Molyneaux, issued a statement saying that it was time to "have done with lesser men". It was a barb that obviously stung because Mr Trimble was dismissive of a proposal from Lord Molyneaux to create a more diluted form of devolution.
Mr Donaldson led the charge in insisting that such venerables as Lord Molyneaux must not be chastised, which won applause.
Mr Trimble also prompted some gasps. He said: "There are people here, and I don't mean you Jeffrey, whose motivation is sectarian." One of the early speakers was the deputy mayor of Derry, Mrs Mary Hamilton, who was injured in the Claudy bombing and has been in the news over allegations that a Catholic priest was behind the attack that claimed the lives of nine people and injured many more.
She seemed very upset by all the in-fighting and, in an emotional speech, told delegates she was backing Mr Donaldson. She wanted change.
Young Unionist Mr Darren Ross was also supporting the Lagan Valley MP. He referred to the number of Young Unionists who had defected to the DUP and said a change of policy was the only way to stop the haemorrhaging of young talent.
Ms Jean Coulter feared that Mr Trimble's tactics were too "anaemic" and this meeting was the last chance to demonstrate to the British government and the electorate that Ulster Unionists would no longer be walked upon.
Mr Victor Emerson, from the Newry-Armagh constituency, said he had buried his 91-year-old father earlier that week and found it very difficult to be at the meeting. But his father was a supporter of the agreement and he, like his father, was keeping faith with Mr Trimble.
Culture, Arts and Leisure Minister Mr Michael McGimpsey, normally reserved in his delivery, gave what delegates said was a passionate speech. He said it was foolish to repeat the tactic, as proposed by Mr Donaldson, of pulling out of the North-South bodies.
To follow Mr Trimble's motion was to "stand and fight"; to align with Mr Donaldson's strategy would be "mere skirmishing".
And then came the bombshell that stunned both the Yes and No sections of the room. Fermanagh councillor Mr Bertie Kerr had famously crushed Mr Donaldson in a television debate on the Good Friday agreement shortly after it was signed. But on Saturday he said he was with Mr Donaldson.
At times it got heated between the Donaldson and Trimble camps. Sir Reg Empey intervened at one stage to say that it was important, ahead of the election, to illustrate that the "party was united and singing from the same hymn sheet".
There was a huddle between the Yes and No players towards the end of the meeting. Mr Donaldson wanted to incorporate Mr Trimble's motion in his but the First Minister insisted he could not wear the North-South proposal or the mechanism whereby the Executive could be precipitately collapsed.
It looked as if it must go to a showdown but that involved difficult judgment calls. If Mr Donaldson's motion was passed then it was surely curtains for Mr Trimble. But if Mr Trimble swung the party by adopting some of his chief opponent's tactics would Mr Donaldson then be weakened? Mr Donaldson appeared to blink - although, by earlier hardening his position more than he wanted, Mr Trimble blinked too.
There was an adjournment and both sides thrashed out a "unity motion", which was endorsed unanimously by a bruised but relieved Ulster Unionist Council. Mr Trimble and Mr Donaldson and their Yes and No colleagues then trooped into an intriguing press conference. "Sit here, Jeffrey," said Mr Trimble, still leader.