Addressing about 200 delegates in the Dunadry Hotel, Mr Ford gave heavy hints that his party will take the crucial position, if a deal is struck between the other parties.

In 2008, Alliance turned down the post, but Mr Ford stressed that since then changes have been made to the nature of the role.

He said that the solo runs of individual ministers on issues such as education would be "untenable" on the sensitive issue of policing and justice.

"Of course I am ambitious for Alliance. Of course I believe an Alliance minister could be relied on to do a good job, a fair job, an impartial job as minister in the Department of Justice, or any other

department," Mr Ford told delegates.

"It is immensely flattering to have people suggest that an Alliance minister would be the best option to ensure smooth devolution of justice...I agree with them."

Mr Ford emphasised that there would be a price for his party's participation in an Executive it has lambasted.

He named agreement on and implementation of the Cohesion, Sharing and Integration Strategy as a price Alliance will hope to exact from the DUP and Sinn Fein in return for filling the justice position.

But, given how the party has in the past been prepared to designate itself as "unionist" - a difficult decision for the cross-community party - in an attempt to save the Assembly, it is difficult to imagine

it refusing the job even if its demands are not met, should the alternative be that Stormont falls.

Alliance is marking its 40th anniversary this year and conference delegates were confidant of the party's future.

Looking back on its history, Mr Ford recalled with nostalgia the Sunningdale Assembly in the early 1970s.

"For some of us, that Assembly... was a more genuine example of power-sharing than the rigid system of power-division we have seen since 1998.

"It was a tragedy that an Executive led by Brian Faulkner and Gerry Fitt, in which Oliver Napier and Bob Cooper (Alliance founding members) served as ministers, was brought down by the illegal actions of both republican and loyalist terrorists."

Mr Ford said that the public were disillusioned by Stormont after twice being promised a new beginning - first in 1998 with the SDLP-UUP-led Assembly and then in 2007 with the DUP-Sinn Fein-led Executive.

The 1998 Executive had been "unable to deliver", while Ian Paisley's warm working relationship with Martin McGuinness had produced little agreement on the key policy disagreements, he argued.

"Then matters got worse when Peter Robinson replaced Ian Paisley as First Minister.

"We didn't have the good personal relationship any longer and we still saw no progress by the Executive on tackling the difficult issues."

There was little sign of anguish at European election candidate Ian Parsley's defection to the Conservatives.