Lagan Valley MP Mr Jeffrey Donaldson has said he will not be rushed into making a decision on his political future despite the lifting of a no confidence motion against him in his constituency association.
After the Ulster Unionist Council (UUC) meeting on Monday night Mr Donaldson said he would postpone making a decision on his next move until after the no confidence vote was completed.
However, while his Lagan Valley opponents yesterday withdrew the motion in the "interests of party unity" Mr Donaldson told The Irish Times that he has not made up his mind on whether he will resign from the Ulster Unionists, which he joined almost 22 years ago.
Mr Donaldson is still consulting with anti-Belfast Agreement allies in the UUP on whether he should proceed with his effective threat to walk away from the party. He said he was not yet ready to take his decision.
He is weighing up whether to join the DUP, to create a loose or more formal coalition of anti-agreement unionists, or to remain within the UUP.
Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble, who defeated him in the UUC vote on Monday night, again urged Mr Donaldson to remain within the UUP fold. However he insisted that Mr Donaldson and his supporters should accept Monday night's decision and support party policy.
"To go in any other direction would be folly for themselves and for politics in Northern Ireland. It's a question of principle, it's a question of the democratic view, it's a question of accepting that," he told the BBC and UTV in interviews from Westminster.
He said that those who opposed him now knew what the "settled view" was within the UUP. "I think it is time that those who disagree with the decision of the majority of the Ulster Unionist Council give consideration as to when they are going to accept the democratic principle."
He also sought to shift the spotlight from internal UUP wrangling onto republicans. He said he was seeking meetings with the British and Irish governments in order to have the sanctions body, the International Monitoring Body, in place "should republicans fail to deliver acts of completion".
"Republicans need to know that there will be a heavy price to pay should they fail to deliver," he added.
The Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, said the real test for Mr Trimble was not how he managed the party but whether the leadership was prepared to operate the Belfast Agreement and, in particular, the institutions in a sustainable way.
The SDLP leader Mr Mark Durkan said it was time the UUP started to "come out as an unashamed pro-agreement party".