Tories fail to extend lead over Labour
A YouGov poll for The Daily Telegraph has found that half of Brits believe Tony Blair can no longer be trusted.
The poll comes after the PM yesterday appeared before Lord Hutton’s judicial inquiry into the apparent suicide of Dr David Kelly, the Iraqi weapons expert widely believed to be the “source” of Andrew Gilligan’s BBC report which claimed an intelligence dossier was “sexed up” by No 10 to bolster the case for regime change in Iraq.
With Iraqi’s weapons of mass destruction conspicuously hard to come by and the full ramifications of the furore over the “dodgy dossiers” yet to come to the fore, the PM’s credibility ratings have plummeted massively as a result.
YouGov found 59 per cent of respondents said Mr Blair was no longer trustworthy, compared with 27 per cent who said he was.
The online poll asked 2,365 British adults between Tuesday and Thursday for their opinions.
YouGov found 47 per cent of interviewees said they had lost respect for Mr Blair as a result of the Dr Kelly affair.
Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon had it worse with 54 per cent.
The BBC’s credibility rating was also hit. 36 per cent of respondents said their opinion of the BBC had fallen. A total of 32 per cent of respondents said their opinion of journalists as a whole had goen down as a result of the scandal.
Mr Blair may find some cheer from the news that the Conservatives have failed to massively exploit Labour’s woes.
According to the monthly YouGov survey, Labour is up one point at 35 per cent, the Tories remain as they were above Labour on 37 per cent, with the Liberal Democrats stuck at 22 per cent.
A total of 37 per cent of voters said they would back Labour if the general election were held tomorrow. Over a third, 35 per cent, said they would back the Conservatives.
