British Prime Minister Tony Blair struck a defiant tone as his Labour Party prepared to open its annual conference yesterday, despite a pair of fresh opinion polls suggesting that support among voters is waning.
With a general election likely in May or June next year, Blair told the Observer that Labour -- in power for the past seven years -- would "not buckle" in the face of dissent.
"It happens with all governments. There is disillusion and disappointment. That's politics," he said. "What you've got to do in those circumstances is not buckle under it, but go out and make your case."
In the next four days, Labour delegates will polish their party platform in hopes of winning a third straight term in power.
But many remain unhappy with Blair for taking Britain into the Iraq war alongside the US, and with his determination to inject free-market principles into health and education.
The Labour Party conference in Brighton will also be overshadowed by the ordeal of Kenneth Bigley, the engineer from Liverpool abducted 10 days ago by Islamic extremists.
Bigley's brother, Paul Bigley, who has been critical of the low-key way in which the government has dealt with the abduction, was due to address an anti-war meeting in Brighton yesterday via a video link.
Two polls in different newspapers pointed to waning public support for Labour.
One of the polls, for News of the World, put the Labour Party at 28 percent -- in third place behind the main opposition Conservatives with 32 percent and the Liberal Democrats with 29 percent.
The other poll, for the Independent, was more consistent with previous surveys, putting Labour still in the lead, but only with 32 percent -- against 30 percent for the Tories and 27 percent for the Liberal Democrats.
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