The Ulster Unionist Council is the governing body of the UUP and comprises some 860 members drawn from a number of levels within the party.
Representatives from each of the Unionist Associations in the 18 Westminster constituencies are entitled to attend and vote. The bulk of those attending the Ramada hotel meeting are drawn from this tier of the party.
The Orange Order is also formally represented, with about 120 or so attending.
The women's section of the party also sends a delegation, as does the young Ulster Unionists.
The remainder of the attendance is drawn from the elected representatives. These include those elected to the North's 26 local authorities, the Assembly, the House of Commons and the House of Lords, and the European Parliament.
The UUC is summoned when a call signed by 60 of its members is delivered to Ulster Unionist headquarters.
There have been 11 such meetings since Good Friday 1998. On April 18th, 1998, some 72 per cent backed the Belfast Agreement in advance of the holding of referendums in both parts of Ireland in May of that year. On March 20th, 1999, the council endorsed Mr Trimble as party leader (he was unopposed) but divisions emerged between pro- and anti-agreement factions, with the latter group claiming they had lost positions of influence within the UUP. On November 27th, 1999, the council authorised the establishment of a power-sharing executive at Stormont without prior paramilitary decommissioning. Mr Trimble secured 58 per cent of the vote, under the condition that he recall the council the following February to review progress.
The party leader also revealed he had lodged a post-dated letter of resignation if the IRA and others failed to decommission their weapons. On February 12th, 2000, the UUC endorsed Mr Trimble's resignation threat in the event of no decommissioning and a suspension of the Assembly followed.
On March 25th, 2000, the Rev Martin Smyth, the South Belfast MP and now party president, challenged Mr Trimble for the leadership. Mr Trimble won with 57 per cent of the vote, but he was shackled with a precondition to the re-establishment of the executive. The UUC called for any progress to be dependent on retention of the RUC title with the new police service. On May 27th, 2000, some 53 per cent of delegates backed a call to return to the Executive at Stormont in the expectation of paramilitary decommissioning by June the following year.
On October 28th, 2000, Trimble supporters defeated the Donaldson-led element 54-46 on a motion demanding decommissioning by November 30th.
On June 23rd, 2001, there was no divisive debate, thanks to Mr Trimble's threatened resignation following the failure of calls for complete decommissioning. On December 1st, 2001, Mr Trimble wins by 56 per cent to 44 per cent another demand for a deadline for paramilitary decommissioning. The pro-agreement wing was greatly encouraged by what it saw as the widening of the gap in voting between the two wings of the party. On March 9th, 2002, the UUC agm elected Mr Trimble as leader unopposed.
September 21st, 2002, was the council meeting which set the scene for last night's debate. It agreed a composite motion agreed by the Donaldson and Trimble camps which called for the withdrawal of the party's ministers from the Executive by January 18th in the event of the continuation of paramilitary activity. The threat was overtaken by events and the Stormont institutions were suspended by the then Northern Secretary, Dr John Reid, on October 14th.