Hopes for an early resolution of the decommissioning deadlock received a further setback last night when Mr David Trimble suggested the creation of the Northern Ireland Executive could be delayed until next February.
Addressing a fringe meeting at the Conservative conference organised by the Unionist Information Office, Mr Trimble again expressed confidence that "the republican movement will slowly, reluctantly have to start to do what it has to do" and begin decommissioning its weapons.
The UUP leader and the North's First Minister-designate was clearly digging in for the long haul on decommissioning when he said the creation of the Northern Ireland executive might have to await the formal transfer of powers to the Assembly early next year.
"If necessary we can wait," Mr Trimble said, insisting that the Belfast Agreement "contains an explicit cross-reference between decommissioning and holding office". Those who suggested otherwise, he said, either had not read the agreement or had failed to understand it.
At a joint press conference with Mr Trimble in Blackpool last week Mr Seamus Mallon, the Deputy First Minister, had insisted that "no single issue" would be permitted to wreck the agreement.
Yesterday Mr Trimble again rehearsed his very different view of the next steps required under the agreement. And, in a passage likely to renew tensions between the two men, Mr Trimble said that while it might be "convenient" to have a shadow executive pending the transfer of powers to the Assembly "it isn't necessary" under the terms of the agreement.
Certainly Mr Trimble and Mr Mallon flew out to the United States last night at the start of an 11-city industrial promotion tour with Dr Mo Mowlam with the October 31st deadline for agreement on areas for North-South co-operation and implementation bodies seemingly beyond their reach, and with Mr Trimble canvassing a projected timetable taking the implementation of key elements of the agreement into 1999.
In a short formal address to the Conservative conference yesterday morning, Mr Trimble paid tribute to Mr John Major, the former prime minister, for his approach to the decommissioning issue and his determination to establish whether republicans were genuinely committed to abiding by the democratic process "or whether their approach was purely tactical".
And he paid tribute to the late Mr Airey Neave and Mr Ian Gow, victims of republican terrorism: "They persistently believed in the need to defeat terrorism and vindicate the rights of the people of Northern Ireland. They gave their lives for that."
Claiming those rights had been vindicated by a Belfast Agreement which had "settled the constitutional position", Mr Trimble said he wasn't sure republicans had fully "internalised" the consequences of their acceptance of "the legitimacy of whatever [constitutional] choice is exercised by the people of Northern Ireland".
Over 150 Conservatives gathered to hear Mr Trimble. But his reception at times appeared polite rather than warm, and the fringe meeting reflected something of Conservative and Unionist divisions over the agreement.
Organisers later acknowledged "an undercurrent of tension" over Mr Trimble's approach. And the UUP leader heard that approach challenged from the platform by Mr Brian McConnell, a spokesman for Families Acting for Innocent Relatives, who told the audience that while parity of esteem was "a fine concept" in places like south Armagh "in reality it means republican intimidation of our community".
Deaglan de Breadun, Northern Editor adds:
The Sinn Fein chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, said Mr Trimble's speech flew in the face of the new reality created by the Belfast Agreement.
"He is indulging himself in confrontation politics and is pandering to a narrow-minded mentality within the Conservative Party and within unionism, a mentality which blocked political progress.
"His speech is also out of step with the mood of the unionist people who voted for the Good Friday agreement." He said Mr Trimble "should resist the temptation to reflect the political views of those within unionism who are opposed to change".