A new opinion poll shows public trust in the British prime minister has plunged over the circumstances surrounding the suicide of weapons expert Dr David Kelly.
Just 22 per cent of those responding to a poll by the
Daily Telegraph
newspaper today felt that the government had, on balance, been honest and trustworthy.
Mr Blair, who swept to power on a promise to ban sleaze from government, received disastrous ratings. A poll back in 1998 showed 74 per cent of voters trusted him. That has now shrunk to just 27 per cent.
Mr Tony Blair's embattled government has been put under a harsh spotlight by a judicial inquiry into the death of Dr Kelly.
Although no "smoking gun" has emerged to support the claim by a BBC reporter that the government "sexed up" a dossier to justify the case for a war in Iraq most of the population opposed, the inquiry has exposed the workings of Mr Blair's inner circle in unprecedented fashion.
