The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, was keeping the Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, under sustained pressure last night to accept Friday's British/Irish plan to save the Belfast Agreement.
At the same time Mr Blair gave Mr Trimble the strongest indication that he would support moves to sustain a Northern Ireland executive without Sinn Fein should the IRA default on decommissioning.
However, during an impassioned House of Commons appeal to Ulster Unionists to give the peace plan a chance, Mr Blair made it clear he could not guarantee a new executive in that event, telling Mr John Major that the SDLP would have to speak for itself on the issue.
Mr Blair spoke to Mr Trimble by telephone yesterday, and the UUP leader met British officials last night to discuss the legislation to effect the suspension of the executive and other institutions of the agreement in the event of non-IRA compliance with the new decommissioning requirements.
Speaking in Belfast yesterday, the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, gave a reminder of the two-way pressure on Mr Blair with the warning: "There is no question of the British government introducing legislation to expel Sinn Fein. Mr Blair knows this would be a breach of the Good Friday agreement."
In the Commons, meanwhile, Mr Trimble told Mr Blair his proposed "failsafe" solution was not sufficient to win his party's support.
"Why close down all the institutions?" he demanded. "Why give a veto in effect to paramilitaries? This is not an effective remedy. The remedy should be directed toward the parties that default."
To strong support from the Labour and Liberal benches, Mr Blair repeated his belief that the British/Irish plan, formulated last week, was "a far better deal than was on offer at Hillsborough" last Easter.
In an emotional appeal to Mr Trimble's party, Mr Blair said: "If last Friday's agreement is put through, we will know in days whether the paramilitaries are serious about decommissioning their weapons.
"After 30 years of bloodshed, grief-stricken families, terror-torn communities, is it not worth waiting 30 days to see if the undertakings made here are fulfilled?
"If they are, then peace will come. If they are not, then we will know that the challenge of true democracy was too much for those linked to paramilitary groups. Either way, we will know."
Answering Mr Trimble's charge that the proposed safety net was "unfair", Mr Blair said: "Suspension is not the only thing that happens. We go into review. Then we can invite the parties to take a different way forward . . ."
Frank McNally adds: Last night, a Government spokesman echoed Mr Blair's comments that if decommissioning did not occur, all institutions would be suspended and the process would go into review.
The same thing would happen if the Ulster Unionists failed to take up their positions in the executive after July 15th, he added. It would then be "back to square one, with the parties meeting as they did in the past week, and nothing agreed".
There could no question of Sinn Fein's exclusion from an executive under the terms of the Belfast Agreement, the spokesman said. "But this is negative thinking, anyway. Our attitude is that the unionists should focus on what Sinn Fein are doing in entering the executive on these terms and realise what an opportunity it is."
Mr Trimble telephoned President Clinton to seek help on the stalled peace process, according to today's London Times.
"I contacted Mr Clinton. I asked him to help me on certain specific matters and I think he will do what he can."