The lights went out a few times at the Ulster Unionist Council meeting – which may be an omen for the difficult political times ahead for a party which remains split down the middle on the Good Friday Agreement.
There were calls yesterday for Jeffrey Donaldson and his supporters not to jump ship and head in the direction of the DUP, but it appears it will be some days before the Lagan Valley MP decides on what to do.
Already it seems likely that a forthcoming vote of no confidence launched against him in his local unionist constituency association might be withdrawn to help the healing process.
But the wounds are bare and bloody for all to see within Ulster Unionism and it is difficult to see Mr Donaldson and his allies swallowing the medicine of defeat and remaining in the UUP fold.
Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble (with a 54% to 46% victory this week) now faces the task of trying to unite his party and prepare for a possible election in the autumn.
The mood at Monday's UU Council meeting was raw and the political temperature on a warm June evening kept rising.
Jim Rodgers told the Irish News: "We had a very big attendance. The lights in the hotel banqueting hall (where the meeting was held) went out on three occasions. It seemed as if some people had stood against the switches."
Mr Rodgers had tried to broach the idea of a compromise motion as he knew the party was very much split between the Donaldson motion and the Trimble amendment. But this move was unsuccessful and was not taken up.
According to Mr Rodgers the outcome of the UU Council meeting was "there were no winners because the party is very badly divided and the general public, the unionist rank and file simply don't like divisions."
"They will not vote in large numbers for a party which is definitely split and I don't think this is good even for the community at large," Mr Rodgers said.
"I would hope that Jeffrey Donaldson and Arlene Foster, and anyone else who are considering their positions about leaving... I would hope they would remain in the party.
"The last thing we need would be widespread resignations. We simply can't afford that. It is hard enough to get people involved in politics."
In the cold light of day Ulster Unionist sources signalled that now was the time to get the political focus back on republicans and acts of completion as envisaged in the joint declaration.
Other UU sources also said they believed Jeffrey Donaldson was on his way out of the party, and the big question was whether he would enter the DUP's door.
Ulster Unionist Ken Maginnis, speaking just after Monday night's vote, commented that "this may be a defining moment for the architects of the agitation (in the party) who are now in a position where they have to consider their position."
Republicans and nationalists watched the outcome of the UU meeting with considerable interest as of course it will have an impact on the joint declaration and indeed the shifting sands of the Good Friday Agreement.
Sinn Féin observers noted that while the media was presenting the divisions at Monday night's meeting as a battle between the pro-agreement and anti-agreement elements within the Ulster Unionist Party, the reality was that David Trimble's position was not radically different from Jeffrey Donaldson's
"For a lot of nationalists and republicans, I think it was a case of tweedle de and tweedle dum. But now that that particular battle seems to be resolved ... David is firmly in control of the Ulster Unionist Party," a Sinn Féin source said.
"Now he has seen off Jeffrey's tenth or eleventh challenge. Perhaps more importantly Jeffrey Donaldson seems to be grievously damaged by what happened on Monday, which was not necessarily the case before.
"His ability to launch another challenge in the immediate future is remote at best and there is no-one else within that party that is likely to emerge in the short-term as a rallying point for that more virulent rejectionist element.
"So, the constant whinge from some elements that we have to do this or we have to do that to save David Trimble should now effectively be put behind us, once and for all.
"People should get on with the business of seeing the agreement implemented."
Yesterday SDLP leader Mark Durkan said it was hard to know whether or not the UU Council result on its own would do very much for anybody in any direction.
"Really what we have to do is to see whether or not we can move this whole (political) situation forward," Mr Durkan said.
"I am talking here right across the whole pro-agreement axis because we have a continuing problem.
"We still don't know five years on from the Good Friday Agreement whether or not the UUP really is pro-agreement or whether or not the UUP itself knows whether or not it is really pro-agreement. That is not just a problem for the Ulster Unionists. That gives all of us a problem.
"I think there is a big onus on the leadership of the UUP to sort that out but I also think there is a responsibility on the rest of us as a pro-agreement leadership to do that as well."
The SDLP leader acknowledged that there were genuine difficulties and doubts that many within unionism have about the agreement.
But he contended that many of the difficulties being voiced by unionists were there because we have not seen the full agreement delivered.
"I think only when the full agreement project is delivered that unionists are going to have the sort of balance of agreement and assurance that they want ... the same as the rest of us actually want." Mr Durkan said.
