Kelly tragedy takes toll on Blair standing
The death of Dr David Kelly and the ensuing crisis for the British government appear to have taken a toll on Tony Blair’s personal rating, according to a poll published today.
The UK Prime Minister’s approval rating, which has been on a downward turn since the end of the Iraq war, plunged a further four points from last month to minus 17, the ICM survey for the Guardian showed.
To add to Mr Blair’s woes, a second poll for the Sun revealed that a quarter of voters who supported Labour at the last election have switched to another party.
Both surveys will pile the pressure on Mr Blair as he continues his tour of the Far East with visits to Shanghai and Hong Kong later today.
BBC chiefs also remained in the spotlight as they prepared their evidence to Lord Hutton’s inquiry into the death of Dr Kelly.
The ICM poll showed Labour’s lead over the Conservatives has narrowed to just two points compared with a 12 point advantage in the same poll two months ago.
Fewer people believed Mr Blair was in touch with ordinary people – 34% compared with 42% last month – while two thirds branded him as too concerned with public relations and spin, the poll showed.
The survey was carried out on Friday and Saturday, following the death of weapons expert Dr Kelly but before the BBC named him as their source in the row over the “sexed up” weapons dossier.
Labour was down two points from last month to 36%, the Conservatives remained unchanged on 34% while the Liberal Democrats were up one point on 22%.
Compared with their performance at the UK's last general election, Labour was down six points, the Tories up one point and the Liberal Democrats up three.
Just 37% were satisfied with the job Mr Blair was doing as Prime Minister, while 54% were unhappy.
In the immediate aftermath of the war, the premier was riding high on the so-called “Baghdad Bounce” with an approval rating of plus seven.
The poll showed however that Mr Blair still enjoys popularity among Labour voters, with 75% saying they were satisfied with the job he was doing.
But amongst the wider electorate, the Prime Minister was losing on the all-important issue of trust.
Only 39% of people regarded Mr Blair as trustworthy, 12% less than a month ago.
The Mori poll for the Sun showed that most who had deserted Mr Blair had done so because of a lack of trust in the government’s ability to improve public services.
Just 28% thought the government could improve schools and hospitals, a figure which has halved since 2001, while 53% said Labour did not have the right policies to improve the country.
