The Conservatives said that it was a signal of how seriously Mr Cameron – rampant in the polls against a floundering Gordon Brown – was taking the Tory-UUP talks that one of his few private meetings at the Conservative Party conference will be with the UUP leadership.

Tomorrow night there will be a fringe conference meeting hosted by the Northern Ireland Conservatives which Sir Reg Empey and other senior Ulster Unionists will attend.

Speaking to the News Letter from the conference in Birmingham yesterday, shadow secretary of state Owen Paterson reaffirmed Lord Trimble's comments that the Conservatives would field candidates in every UK constituency at the general election.

"It is absolutely our declared intention to put up candidates in every single seat in Northern Ireland," he said.

"I'm delighted that Sir Reg Empey, UUP chairman David Campbell, treasurer Mark Cosgrove, and other senior UUP members are attending our conference and the Northern Ireland Conservatives' fringe meeting.

"David Cameron looks forward to meeting them during their visit, and to hearing about the progress in the talks between the Conservative Party and the UUP which were announced at the end of July.

"When I'm in Northern Ireland, people want to discuss fuel duty, pensions, mortgages – all of these things are decided in Westminster and that's where Northern Ireland needs to have the option of mainstream politics."

Mr Paterson said that ordinary Tory members were very positive about the discussions between the two parties.

"People came up to me after my speech on Sunday and said, 'We wish you the very best of luck'. I know that Members of Parliament are certainly very supportive of what we are doing."

And, responding to Jeffrey Donaldson's largely critical comments at yesterday's DUP fringe event at the conference, he said: "It was extremely interesting to hear what the DUP had to say.

"I think that our position is being somewhat caricatured, but I want to reassure everyone that we want the very best relations with every political party in Northern Ireland.

"I think it is worth remembering our poll from earlier in May which showed that about 80 per cent of DUP supporters would like to see a Cameron Conservative govern-ment."

Speaking of this morning's meeting with Mr Cameron, Sir Reg said: "It will be about taking stock on where we're going.