Unionist infighting is nothing new.
For more than 50 years, those who position themselves as pure unionists have agitated and denounced those who they regard as sell-outs and Lundys.
Once the former faction was led by Ian Paisley, then an uncompromising firebrand who helped kill Sunningdale and sought to do the same to the Good Friday Agreement before being slowly coaxed in from the cold.
His ally in opposing the 1998 accord, and in particular the release of paramilitary prisoners, was his eventual successor as DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, a much less incendiary figure but someone who casts himself as no less principled.
The current DUP leader this week finds himself in the firing line and, to mix metaphors, between a rock and a hard place. It's difficult to overstate the parallels between his situation and that which David Trimble found himself in following the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
There's been speculation for weeks that the Lagan Valley MP is preparing his party for a return to Stormont. His October 14 conference speech made it clear that devolution was best for the DUP and for Northern Ireland but that he needed British government assurances to make the jump. Little has changed in three weeks, only a growing expectation that a potential breakthrough is edging closer.
The DUP leader's positioning has unnerved the ultras, who in common with many observers, aren't convinced that whatever comes from the British government will meet the party's seven tests. A News Letter editorial on Wednesday effectively said it would be a climbdown to return to Stormont while the Irish Sea border remains in place.
Sir Jeffrey was quick to respond, describing the article as "defeatist and negative". He repeated the key themes of his conference speech – that support for the union was greatest while Stormont was operating and that unionism needs to broaden its appeal.
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He insisted he was not about to roll over, yet the schism between the terminal naysayers and those Sir Jeffrey claims have a" record of saying yes" appears to be widening.
TUV leader Jim Allister and numerous self-appointed spokespeople are continuing to call for the zero sum outcome most agree is fantasy, but seemingly Sir Jeffrey's greatest challenge is convincing the doubters within his own ranks.
Only when it's clear what is on offer from the British government can the DUP make the call, but there's an increasing sense that without Stormont unionism's returns will only diminish. Sir Jeffrey is slowly realising that you don't win people over by alienating them but has the penny dropped for the purists in his party?
