Blair loses voter confidence over Iraq
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Your support makes all the difference.Half of all Labour voters have little or no confidence in Tony Blair in the present crisis over Iraq, according to an exclusive YouGov poll for The Independent on Sunday.
In a sample of more than 2,000 people interviewed in the UK in the latter part of last week, 50 per cent said they did not support unilateral US military action to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
And in a stark warning to Tony Blair, 60 per cent of Britons – rising to almost two-thirds of Labour supporters – said if the US did launch military action without United Nations backing Britain should play no part.
However, the poll also found that 55 per cent of people felt that Saddam Hussein "poses a serious threat to world peace".
A resounding 90 per cent of people supported the notion of setting a deadline by which Iraq must agree to allow back United Nations arms inspectors or face further action by the UN.
But 74 per cent said they would support UN military action against Iraq if the regime then failed to let the inspectors return, with 21 per cent opposed and 5 per cent unsure.
In those circumstances, 68 per cent of those polled said Britain should then contribute troops to the UN force.
Despite Tory voters' lack of faith in Mr Blair – just 3 per cent have a "great deal" of confidence in the Prime Minister – they are on the whole more gung-ho about going to war with Iraq.
While 8 per cent of Labour supporters have a "great deal" of confidence in the leader, half have either "not much" or "none at all".
Confidence ratings were even lower for George Bush than for Mr Blair: 23 per cent said they had a "fair amount" of confidence in Mr Bush, compared with 31 per cent in Mr Blair, while 41 per cent said they had "not much" confidence in Mr Bush compared to 42 per cent in Mr Blair. And 30 per cent said they had no confidence in Mr Bush, compared to 18 per cent who had "none at all" in Mr Blair.
Women are much more hostile to the idea of military action than men. While 65 per cent of women supported action if it comes with UN backing, that figure rises to 80 per cent among men. Only 28 per cent of women backed unilateral US action, compared with 37 per cent of men.
Women were also more reluctant to send in British troops – 74 per cent of men said British troops should join a UN force compared with 59 per cent of women, and 33 per cent of men said Britain should join a US-led force compared with 21 per cent of women.
On the whole, support for some form of military action and concern about Saddam Hussein increased with age, although older people were less confident in the two political leaders.
Despite the hesitance in supporting military action, four out of five people said it would have been a "good idea" if after the Gulf War the international force had continued to fight until Saddam Hussein was overthrown.
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