Mixed view of Blair on 10th anniversary

Tuesday, 20 July 2004 12:00 AM

On the tenth anniversary of Tony Blair's leadership of the Labour Party, a new poll suggests that the majority of voters want him to stay on as Prime Minister, but also view him as arrogant and "too presidential".

On Wednesday Mr Blair will have led the party for ten years, and nearly eight as Prime Minister. The decade has seen victory in two general elections, radical domestic reform in devolution and the establishment of the National Minimum Wage and British troops in action in Sierra Leona, the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq. It is this latter conflict which seems to be most occupying voters minds at present.

A new ICM/Guardian poll, conducted just after the publication of the Butler Report, found that opposition to the war in Iraq has surged 13 points in the last two months, with 56 per cent believing the war was unjustified.

Despite all four reports into the events surrounding the Iraq war clearing the Prime Minister of any charges of dishonesty, 55 per cent of voters believe that Mr Blair lied.

Among all voters his personal approval rating stands at minus 22 points, with only 36 per cent of respondents satisfied with his performance as Prime Minister.

However, voters increasingly see him as experienced (70 per cent) and competent (57 per cent.)

Indicating perhaps that it is Mr Blair, not the Labour Party as a whole, which has suffered from the Iraq fall out, Labour have a five point lead over the Conservatives, with Michael Howard's personal rating falling to minus eight per cent.

The Liberal Democrats' vote share is up to 25 per cent, only five points behind the Conservatives.

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