We can only assume Arlene Foster was in touch with her party colleagues earlier this week and made them aware that she believes Finance Minister Máirtín Ó Muilleoir should step aside while investigations are ongoing into the backchannel scandal involving Daithí McKay and Jamie Bryson.
If the DUP leader hadn't agreed this then Finance Committee chairwoman Emma Little Pengelly would've been making a solo run on Tuesday and that could only further complicate the relationship with Sinn Féin – as well as internally.
The DUP leader sounded less than forthright in her call. She did point out, however, quite correctly that Mr Ó Muilleoir's immediate fate was in Sinn Féin's hands. If the first minister were to make it a red line issue it would no doubt signal an end to the recent thaw in relations at the heart of the executive.
To date there's nothing to suggest republicans plan to acquiesce to demands from Stormont's other parties. With some justification they can point out that some probes by the assembly's standards commissioner Douglas Bain have taken up to five years to complete.
Mrs Foster may well believe with greater conviction that Mr Ó Muilleoir should step aside, however, clearly her priority for now is keeping the power-sharing show on the road.
After the shenanigans of the past few years which were brought to a close with last November's Fresh Start, it seems unlikely that the British government would tolerate any more devolved deadlock. Her colleagues may be frothing at the mouth over the Sinn Féin-Jamie Bryson plot to discredit Peter Robinson, but for the pragmatic Mrs Foster, stability trumps such outrage.
