A senior adviser to Mr David Trimble has stated that a 12-month postponement of the Assembly elections could avert the collapse of the Executive and the other institutions of the Belfast Agreement.
Were the British government to reschedule the elections to May 2004, then the Ulster Unionist Council (UUC) could be persuaded to lift its threat to collapse the Executive when it meets in January, said Prof Paul Bew, of Queen's University, Belfast.
Prof Bew, who is one of Mr Trimble's closest confidants and strategists, made his suggestion in Navan, Co Meath, on Monday.
He stressed that he was speaking personally and had not put his idea to the Ulster Unionist leader - although London is convinced that Mr Trimble would support the proposal.
"In my view the election should be delayed until 2004 because of the instinctive willingness of the UUP to stick with the institutions. People believe they would be worse without the institutions," Prof Bew told the Meath Peace Group.
A London source said he believed the suggestion tallied with Mr Trimble's views. He insisted that the proposal was not coming from the British government which, while not ruling out the idea, had grave doubts that it could succeed.
The two governments are mindful of how the DUP made political capital by claiming that London and Dublin and the pro-Belfast Agreement parties had made a "mockery of politics" when Mr Trimble and Mr Mark Durkan, with Alliance redesignating as unionists, were returned last November as First and Deputy First Ministers. Were such a proposal to be a runner most opposition would be expected from the DUP and Sinn Féin, who are predicted to poll strongly if the election goes ahead, as initially scheduled, next May.
Anti-Agreement Ulster Unionists such as Mr Jeffrey Donaldson and Mr David Burnside might also be opposed to a postponement, fearing that it could undermine their chance to wrest control of the party from the Yes wing of the UUP.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, are nonetheless expected to weigh up its feasibility when they meet at a summit in Downing Street on Tuesday.
Following last Saturday week's UUC ultimatum that it will pull out of the Executive after January 18th if the IRA does not disband, Mr Ahern and Mr Blair engaged in a range of contact with the UUP, SDLP and Sinn Féin leaders - Mr Trimble, Mr Mark Durkan and Mr Gerry Adams - in an effort to avoid an imminent political crisis.
Prof Bew, elaborating on his Navan speech to The Irish Times yesterday, believes that his proposal could head off political collapse and should be seriously treated by Mr Ahern and Mr Blair.
Part of the justification for Prof Bew's proposal hinges on the fact that the Assembly and Executive were scheduled to run for five years, but that almost two years of that term was lost due to months of haggling before the Executive was fully up and running and its subsequent suspensions.
Furthermore, he said that a 12-month postponement could allow unionists to come to terms with the fact that Sinn Féin "would eat the SDLP" in Assembly elections, and that Sinn Féin would be the senior nationalist grouping in the chamber.
Prof Bew said while he didn't wish to denigrate the lengthy detail of the compromise Trimble/Donaldson UUC motion, elements of it - such as the proposal to row back on police reform - represented a "wish-list".
What was crucial for unionists was that the IRA did something to show that it was fully signed up to the peace process, and this was reflected in Mr Trimble's section of the motion calling for the IRA to make the move to democracy.
Of the Sinn Féin leader's bona fides, Prof Bew said in Navan: "I'm totally convinced Mr Adams is totally committed to peace."
