Since the signing of the Belfast Agreement in April 1998, there have been six meetings of the Ulster Unionist Council. Each has been pivotal to the peace process. The five meetings previous to Saturday's were:
April 18th, 1998
The council endorsed Mr David Trimble's support for the agreement, with 72 per cent in favour. Mr Trimble said: "One way or another, we are going to get it right."
March 22nd, 1999
Dissidents defeated what they claimed was an attempt to force them out of positions of power within the party. Anti-agreement figures held their positions on the party's officer board.
November 27th, 1999
After over a year's negotiations, including five reviews and one false start for the power-sharing Executive, all the parties agreed to the terms of the Mitchell review, by which the UUP would enter a power-sharing executive without prior decommissioning.
Mr Trimble carried the day but this time with only 58 per cent support, and told the leader of Sinn Fein: "Mr Adams, it's over to you".
The UUP leader also agreed to reconvene the council in February to monitor progress on decommissioning and lodged a post-dated resignation letter from the office of First Minister with the party president.
February 12th, 2000
The UUC endorsed Mr Trimble's decision to threaten to resign as First Minister over a lack of progress on IRA decommissioning, leading to suspension of the Assembly. The council pledged to challenge the Patten report on policing but did not make it a condition for re-entry to the Executive.
March 25th, 2000
Mr Trimble won a leadership contest against the Rev Martin Smyth. Although 57 per cent of delegates supported Mr Trimble as leader, he failed to prevent a motion linking any resumption of the Executive to the retention of the RUC title.
May 27th, 2000
The UUC supported the leadership's decision to re-enter government in the expectation of decommissioning by June 2001.
After winning the vote with 53 per cent, Mr Trimble said it was "obvious that there is a limit to how far we can stretch ourselves without an adequate response being made".