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LONDON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Nearly half of Britons think it was right to go to war in Iraq, despite a growing death toll among troops and allegations that the government hyped its case for the conflict, an opinion poll published on Tuesday said. The Populus poll for The Times newspaper shows there has only been a slight swing away from support for the war in the past month, a period dominated by revelations from a probe into the suicide of an Iraq weapons expert. Of the 1,011 respondents asked in the poll whether they thought the war was...

Poll finds public want Blair to step downThe time has come for Tony Blair to stand down, according to a poll.Most voters say Mr Blair is no longer trustworthy, the Mori survey showed.A majority say his record on health, crime, transport and asylum-seekers is poor. Half say he is doing a good job as Prime Minister in difficult circumstances.But more, 53%, say he has run out of ideas and just 45% say he should stay on while 46% want him to quit.Labour is running neck and neck with the Tories on 35%, while the Liberal democrats are on 19%,...

PM'S POPULARITY PLUMMETS The Prime Minister's popularity has taken a nosedive since the end of the war in Iraq, according to a new opinion poll. An ICM poll commissioned by the Guardian gives him a personal rating of minus 13, compared to plus 8 during the hostilities. The failure to provide evidence of Iraq's weapons, the controversial Cabinet reshuffle and the recent row over taxes are all given as factors. Labour's lead over the Tories is at its narrowest since the fuel crisis. The poll puts Labour on 38%, down three points since last month and just four points ahead...

Blair Reaps Benefit of Iraqi War Support By BETH GARDINER .c The Associated Press LONDON (AP) - Prime Minister Tony Blair spent month after agonizing month trying to convince Britons that war against Iraq might be necessary. He endured one of the tensest moments of his career just before the bombs began falling, when he faced a major revolt in his own Labor Party. His decision to lead his country into a war most here opposed was a huge political gamble. With Saddam Hussein's fall, the gamble appears to have paid off. Two new polls show support for Blair and...

GLASGOW (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tony Blair has faced anti-war hecklers as he campaigned in Scotland ahead of the first elections since he committed Britain to the conflict in Iraq. Scots were more anti-war than other Britons and the ruling Labour Party's main rival, the Scottish National Party (SNP), was implacably opposed to the campaign. SNP protesters yelling slogans and waving banners jeered at Blair as he arrived in Glasgow on Tuesday morning. The Scots and Welsh will vote for devolved parliaments in Edinburgh and Cardiff on May 1 while in England more than 10,000 local council seats are up...

Tony Blair could pay an unexpected and unwelcome price for the war against Saddam Hussein, according to a Financial Times survey, which suggests that public anger with France's stand on the conflict could make it harder for him to win a euro referendum. While the prime minister's personal standing has soared with crucial "swing voters", he will have a near-impossible task winning support among Conservative-turned-Labour voters if he calls a referendum on entry into the single currency, according to a focus group conducted for the FT by Opinion Leader Research. The findings show that as campaigning gets under way for...

More than two-thirds of the public approve of Tony Blair's handling of the war in Iraq and more than half back British involvement in military action, according to a new opinion poll. However, two-in-five believe there will be heavy civilian casualties in the battle for Baghdad. The poll, by YouGov, found the public was split on the question of whether the war would make the rest of the world more peaceful and stable, with some 44% saying it would not. More than two-in-three people thought Mr Blair's handling of the war itself was excellent (18%) or good (50%). Slightly more...

SPARE US: Defeated and weary Iraqi militiamen line up with hands in the airWE RULE THE ROADS: British tank crew patrol outskirts of Basra 89 PER CENT BACK WAR - POLL 89 per cent think we should see the battle through, with just eight per cent saying the war should be stopped. PM Tony Blair's personal approval ratings also remain high. Forty nine per cent like the way he is handling the Iraq crisis, while 38 per cent do not. ICM Research interviewed a random sample of 540 adults aged 18+ by telephone on 4-5th April, 2003. Interviews were...

UN should have backed Iraq: pollMarch 30, 2003 A MAJORITY of people in Britain, the United States, Australia and New Zealand believed the United Nations should have sanctioned military action against Iraq, an international poll suggested today. The Roy Morgan International Poll surveyed 1,660 randomly selected people in those four countries five days after the war began. When asked whether the UN should have supported military action against Iraq to depose Saddam Hussein, 81 per cent of Americans said yes, as did 66 per cent of Britons, 61 per cent of Australians and 50 per cent of New Zealanders. The...

  Coalition troops in Iraq BRITONS BACKING WAR A large majority of Britons believe that war in Iraq should be seen through to a successful conclusion, according to a poll. Despite 23 British deaths and fears the conflict will drag on for months, just 11% of those questioned believe UK troops should be withdrawn. The survey by ICM Research for the News of the World found 84% in favour of continuing war until its objectives had been achieved.Pre-war polls regularly found large majorities opposed to military action.But now it has begun, surveys have shown Britons rallying behind troops.The poll suggests Tony Blair...

GULF WAR II: Poll shows the British public are steeled for a long fight THE British public overwhelmingly back the war—despite fears that it could take months, not days, to depose Saddam Hussein. A massive 84 per cent believe Britain and America should see the war through to a successful conclusion—a rise of two per cent in a week. Just 11 per cent think the coalition should now stop fighting and pull out. The figures are revealed in a News of the World ICM poll taken last night, well after US commanders confirmed the war will take months to complete....

U.K. Poll: Majority Now Favor War Monday, Mar 24, 2003; 2:38 PM LONDON - The majority of Britons now approve of the U.S.-led war on Iraq, following a large swing as the conflict began last week, a new poll showed Monday. In the ICM poll, due to be published in the Guardian newspaper Tuesday, 54 percent of Britons said they supported a military campaign to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, compared with 38 percent in a previous March 16 poll. The number in favor was even lower last month with just 29 percent backing war in mid-February. Monday's survey confirmed,...

Blair predicts tough fight as war support grows By Mike Peacock LONDON, March 24 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair warned on Monday of tough fighting ahead in Iraq where the first British soldier was killed in combat. He told parliament that U.S.-British forces sweeping north through Iraq were about to confront a regiment of elite Iraqi troops, a fight he billed as crucial. Nonetheless, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's fate was sealed, he said. "Coalition forces led by the American 5th Corps are on the way to Baghdad. As we speak, they are about 60 miles (95 km) south...

New UK poll confirms majority now favour war LONDON, March 24 (Reuters) - The majority of Britons now approve of the U.S.-led war on Iraq, following a large swing as the conflict began last week, a new poll showed on Monday. In the ICM poll, due to be published in the Guardian newspaper on Tuesday, 54 percent of Britons said they supported a military campaign to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, compared with 38 percent in a previous March 16 poll. The number in favour was even lower last month with just 29 percent backing war in mid-February. It was...

A poll has found British support for the war against Iraq and faith in Tony Blair as a leader is slowly creeping up. In just six days, the number of people who think Britain and the US are right to take military action against Iraq has risen from 50% on March 18 to 56% on March 24. Trust in the Prime Minister to make the right decisions regarding the war has also jumped from 55% to 65% in the same time frame. The YouGov war poll, conducted for the Daily Telegraph, quizzed 976 adults online on Sunday. A massive 84%...

SADDAM Hussein’s grip on power was rapidly slipping last night as Allied ground forces surrounded Basra and moved to within 100 miles of Baghdad. Following a day of ferocious fighting on the outskirts of Basra and repeated air strikes on the capital, coalition commanders believed the Iraqi dictator was within days of defeat. Vast plumes of acrid smoke rose above Baghdad as the city’s defenders set light to oil-filled trenches in anticipation of the Allies’ final assault. British and US armour reported they had defeated Iraqi troops defending the western outskirts of Basra and were laying siege to Iraq’s second...

Blair's approval rating up to 56 pct on war start LONDON, March 22 (Reuters) - A majority of Britons now approve of Prime Minister Tony Blair's handling of the Iraq crisis, a sharp rise from levels before the military campaign began, a new poll showed on Saturday. The ICM poll said 56 percent of those asked said they believed Blair's handling had been "about right," while 26 percent thought he had been "too firm" in launching a war against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Blair, facing the most critical moment of his six-year premiership due to widespread opposition to the war...

Public opinion has shifted dramatically towards military action against Iraq, with the anti-war lead in the Guardian/ICM opinion poll narrowing from 23 to only six points in the past month. This has been accompanied by a recovery in Tony Blair's personal rating, according to results of the March survey, published today. Women and Liberal Democrat voters remain overwhelmingly opposed to the war, but majority backing for military action is now to be found for the first time among men and among Labour and Conservative voters. The ICM poll also shows that the country is split over whether anti-war ministers should...

Prime Minister Tony Blair has received some good news ...with an opinion poll showing public support for war in Iraq finally rising ... The ICM poll...to be published in Tuesday's edition of the Guardian, showed disapproval of war against Iraq had fallen by eight points to 44 percent while support had risen by nine points to 38 percent.Less than 2-weeks ago, the same ICM poll showed only 19% support for military action in Iraq.

France's opposition to a war with Iraq under any circumstances may be responsible for a sudden shift in public opinion in Britain, according to the Britain's Sunday Times newspaper. A new poll reveals that the number of Britons opposed to the war has dropped by 13 percent in the last two months. In January, fully 73 percent of Brits were opposed to a war with Iraq. That figure has now fallen to 60 percent according to the YouGov survey published in the Sunday Times. Reuters reported that the poll showed that while 49 percent of Brits said a war...