UK: Prime Minister Blair

Britain normally feels much closer emotionally to the US than to continental Europe, but, at least as far as the US government is concerned, this is no longer the case. This is evident from a Reuters dispatch (2/12/03), of which here is an extract: "Blair gambles all for US war: Britain's Tony Blair is paying a high political price for his readiness to join a US-led war on Iraq, his poll ratings have slumped and his ambition to act as a transatlantic bridge looks ever more elusive. The latest opinion poll in the Times (2/11/03) gave Blair's ruling Labor Party 35 per cent support, just one point ahead of its Conservative opponents - its lowest lead in a decade. Other polls show most Britons would not back an attack on Iraq without a new UN mandate, and many will not support it even then. A televised meet-the-people show last week showed a prime minister painfully out of touch with the ordinary Britons who elected him. Blair was forced to field a volley of hostile questions, notably over his high-profile support for US President George Bush. Opposition within his own party is just as fierce, with anger high over Blair's unflinching backing for the US line on Iraq and the yawning chasm between Britain and the big players of Europe, France and Germany".

Ronald Hilton - 2/12/03