Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble today achieved a resounding victory in his bid to force three rebel MPs to resume the party whip.
Ulster Unionist Council delegates backed an amendment from Mr Trimble against three MPs; Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, Mr David Burnside and Rev Martin Smyth.
About 56 per cent of delegates supported his call for MPs to resume the whip at Westminster, which they resigned in June in a row over party's peace process policy.
A total of 443 delegates backed their party leader's call on the MPs to end their protest.
In the run up to today's vote Mr Burnside, Mr Donaldson and the Rev Smyth warned that if the disciplinary moves were not dropped it would cause an irreconcilable split in the UUP.
Jubilant supporters of David Trimble spilled out of the Ulster Hall in Belfast.
"This is the best possible result," one delegate said.
Emerging from the meeting, Mr Burnside was defiant.
He said he and his dissident colleagues would continue to oppose in Parliament British and Irish Government proposals and would then move to resume the whip.
However, if they were to continue to be disciplined, the South Antrim MP warned it would damage the party.
"We will continue to oppose the joint declaration," he said.
"We will oppose it in Parliament. We will oppose it in the country.
"It does not have advantages for the Union.
"We will continue as unionist members of Parliament.
"We will reapply for the whip when we oppose this joint declaration and we will continue the fight.
"If the disciplinary action takes place and it disciplines Jeffrey, Martin and myself - one who is the president of our party and the other two Assemblycandidates - what way is it to go into an Assembly election?"
There were calls from some sections of the party for the Ulster Unionist leadership to be magnanimous in victory and allow the MPs to resume the whip.
Former Newry and Armagh MLA Danny Kennedy said: "I think the result on behalf of the party leader was a good one.
"However it is not such a good result for the party because it clearly now marks out the fault lines that clearly still exist.
"One hopes that common sense will prevail in all of this and the party will somehow find a way through this.
"It would be unthinkable that the party would proceed now with either suspensions or expulsions and proceed down the line of associations in a complete irrevocable split within the party.