Mr David Trimble survived a vote of no confidence in him by his own constituency association last night. However, 69 members of the Upper Bann Unionist Association voted against him - some 37.5 per cent of the 184 in attendance.
The Ulster Unionist leader and his officials put a brave face on the uncomfortably large negative vote.
"I'm sad that there are 60-odd delegates who are unhappy with the policy of the party," he said afterwards. "And I'm sad that the division within the party is distracting attention away from the real underlying problem, which is continuing paramilitary activity."
Well-placed sources insisted the size of the anti-Trimble vote was of no great concern. However, the scale of opposition within the UUP ranks in the party leader's own constituency appears to be rising inexorably.
Mr Trimble said that leadership involved putting up with the "heat in the kitchen" and he denounced suggestions of resignation.
Mr Robin Oliver, who led the charge in Upper Bann against Mr Trimble last night, told The Irish Times of his reason for lodging the motion of no confidence.
"This constituency has set about calling on David Trimble to start listening to the people on the ground. That is the reason for this motion." Admitting beforehand that an outright defeat of Mr Trimble was improbable, he said: "The split within the Upper Bann constituency would be similar to that of the Ulster Unionist Council.
"However, what it is doing is calling on David Trimble to listen to the large percentage of unionist delegates from this constituency \ the large percentage of unionist voters. We are looking at maybe 35 per cent to 40 per cent of delegates from this constituency who are in disagreement with David Trimble. We are looking at 47 per cent of Ulster Unionist Council delegates who are in disagreement with David Trimble's policies. And we are looking at 70 per cent of Ulster Unionist voters out on the street who are opposed."
Mr Oliver said Mr Trimble needed to consider his next steps carefully, especially following the ruling against the UUP in the High Court which found that the party had acted improperly in disciplining the three MPs who resigned the whip at Westminster.
Some 30 unionists in Upper Bann Unionist Association opposed to Mr Trimble's policy of backing the Belfast Agreement and refusing to dismiss the Joint Declaration, which is aimed at kick-starting the political process, had signed the motion of no confidence.
A similar motion lodged against Mr Jeffrey Donaldson in Lagan Valley by his opponents was withdrawn after the last Ulster Unionist Council meeting, which was won by Mr Trimble.
The motion against Mr Trimble last night was proposed by Mr Oliver who, under UUP rules, was allowed to speak for 10 minutes. Mr Trimble was then allowed the same time to reply.
Seconders to each side of the debate were allowed five minutes each and other speakers from the floor were given three minutes if called.
Lord Kilclooney, the former Mr John Taylor and a one-time deputy leader to Mr Trimble, earlier appealed for both sides in the UUP civil war to talk through their differences.