As the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) disciplinary committee met yesterday to consider the fate of four dissidents who defied the party whip, there was some thawing in the frosty relationship between Mr Jeffrey Donaldson and Mr David Trimble.
Four anti-Belfast Agreement members who contested the Assembly elections against the wishes of the UUP hierarchy were called to account for their actions at party headquarters in Glengall Street, Belfast.
Three of the four turned up for yesterday's hearing. They were Mr Denis Watson, head of the Orange Order in Armagh, and Mr Boyd Douglas, who won Assembly seats respectively in Upper Bann and East Derry, and Mr Jack Beattie, who failed to win a seat in the Strangford constituency.
Mr William Wright, a Ballymena councillor who failed to win a seat in North Antrim, did not attend.
All four are still opposed to the Belfast Agreement. Mr Beattie said he was unrepentant. "I don't regret what I did, I would do it all over again.
"I think the party would miss me more than I would miss them. It would be ironic indeed if the party expels me if they themselves are sitting down with Sinn Fein/IRA who have done a lot more against the unionist party than I have done."
Mr Watson, a leading Orange figure in the Portadown Drumcree dispute, who stood against Mr Trimble in Upper Bann, left the hearing without commenting. He is also said to have no regrets about his stance.
Mr Douglas said he opposed the agreement. "I stand by my principles."
The dissident group was seen as undermining the party leadership at a very difficult time for Mr Trimble. The four were suspended from the UUP and, when the disciplinary committee adjudicates, could be expelled from the party.
The chairman of the disciplinary committee, Mr James Cooper, said his committee would take a few days before deciding.
A decision to expel the members last night would have been embarrassing for Mr Trimble before meeting today with the Sinn Fein leader, Mr Gerry Adams.
Meanwhile, Mr Trimble has invited Mr Donaldson, himself previously viewed as an anti-agreement dissident, to join a new influential strategy group - an overture which Mr Donaldson has accepted.
The group met on Sunday to plan strategy and tactics and to advise Mr Trimble. It is expected to meet fortnightly. And while Sinn Fein is insisting there is nothing in the agreement which precludes its members taking up ministerial positions ahead of IRA decommissioning, it is understood this group is insisting there must be some prior IRA disarmament.
While this position is in line with Mr Donaldson's stance, the fact that the Lagan Valley MP has been invited to join the group indicates that he is coming back into favour with Mr Trimble.
"We think some of Jeffrey's friends are still briefing against the leadership but we also believe that Jeffrey is being more reasonable," one senior UUP source told The Irish Times.
"It is easier, too, for Jeffrey to be involved when the group's position is no guns; no government for Sinn Fein," he added.
Mr Ken Maginnis, the party's security spokesman, was very critical of Mr Donaldson for his No campaign in the Assembly election but here again, according to the source, there had been some minor rapprochement.
