An Ulster Unionist Council showdown between Mr David Trimble and Mr Jeffrey Donaldson now appears inevitable in the coming weeks irrespective of the legal advice that lawyers provide to the Ulster Unionist Party in Belfast tonight.
The UUP's 14-member officer board meets at headquarters to learn from lawyers whether a UUC meeting called by the Donaldson wing of the party has been validly requisitioned.
The motion to the UUC from the Donaldson bloc effectively calls for the lifting of disciplinary action against Mr Donaldson and two fellow MPs, Mr David Burnside and the Rev Martin Smyth, who face possible expulsion from the party for resigning the party whip at Westminster.
If the UUC is judged valid then the motion will be debated in early to mid-September, although in such circumstances Mr Trimble might try to wrest some tactical advantage over Mr Donaldson by putting forward his own amendment to the motion.
However, if the legal advice is that the UUC is improperly called then "it is almost nine-tenths certain that David Trimble will call a Council meeting himself to again confront Jeffrey", said a senior party source.
The same source said that Mr Trimble was unlikely to put a straight "Jeffrey or me" confidence motion in his leadership before the UUC.
"I think it is more likely that David would put down a motion seeking support for his policies and his approach to the Belfast Agreement and the Joint Declaration," he added.
Meanwhile, Mr Trimble continues his "whistle-stop" tour meeting officers and grassroots Ulster Unionists from the party's 18 constituency associations.
Even here the party divisions were evident.
When he visited North Down yesterday the constituency association chairman, Mr Ian Henry, complained that Mr Trimble was only meeting selected Ulster Unionists.
He said many local members had not been invited to yesterday's meeting in Bangor.
"It's a PR exercise. I am annoyed North Down as the first stop has not included all my constituency members," he said.
Similar criticism was aired by a Donaldson supporter, Ms Arlene Foster, who is also a member of the party officer board.
"I have to say I am surprised that a lot of people in my own area of Fermanagh and South Tyrone do not seem to be aware or have been invited to a meeting in their area," she complained.
"If you're talking about consulting the grassroots of the party, there seems to be little point in listening to those who already agree with you," added Ms Foster.
Mr Trimble rejected the criticism and said the meetings were intended to be informal.
He also indicated that he was prepared for a confrontation with Mr Donaldson and blamed his opponents for causing the current bitter divisions in the UUP.
"We have a problem in the party through the ways in which other people are dividing the party by resignations, threats of resignations and talking of how they are going to align themselves with other political parties," he said.
"That is not a problem that I or anybody here today has created. It has been created by others. The sooner that problem is sorted out then the sooner [the divisions] will disappear," he told the BBC.
