British trust in Prime Minister Tony Blair has plunged after the suicide of a weapons expert provoked the worst crisis of his six-year premiership, an opinion poll showed yesterday.
The latest sounding in the Guardian newspaper made grim reading for the beleaguered prime minister as the inquiry into the suicide of David Kelly wraps up.
Blair's ratings have slumped over the summer so that now 61 percent of voters are unhappy with the job he is doing.
His rating for trustworthiness has fallen nine points since July to just 30 percent. An overwhelming 70 percent say he is far too concerned with public relations and "spin doctoring."
Throughout the last two months, Blair's administration has been put under a harsh spotlight by a judicial inquiry into the death of Kelly, who was embroiled in a bitter row between the BBC and the government over Britain's case for war against Iraq.
After taking 110 hours of evidence and lifting the lid on the once deeply hidden world of British intelligence, Lord Hutton concluded the inquiry yesterday.
His final report, a "Sword of Damocles" hanging over Blair, is not expected before November.
The BBC, which had accused the government of hyping the case for war against Iraq, returned to the attack on Wednesday.
A source in US President George W. Bush's administration quoted by the BBC said no weapons of mass destruction had been found by the Iraq Survey Group tasked with looking for them.
But Blair's office was quick to label the report as "speculation about an unfinished draft of an interim report that has not even been presented yet."
That prompted sharp criticism from the opposition Conservatives who had backed Blair when he went to war.
Foreign Affairs spokesman Michael Ancram said: "If this BBC report is accurate, this is another damaging blow to the Prime Minister's credibility.
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