Britons Think Blair Lied

A new poll says that 59% of respondents believe that Tony Blair “lied” to the British public about Iraq. This is much worse than prior polls, which have found that most people think he “misled” the country, but the largest share say such misleading was unintentional. Apparently the Hutton inquiry has contributerd to the latest, more negative assessment, even though the testimony in that forum contained no evidence of any deliberate misrepresentation by Blair’s government.
On the positive side, most respondents in the new poll, done for the Independent, say they do not think Blair should resign, and Labour still holds a comfortable lead over the Tories. So while many Britons are now willing to form the harsh judgment that Blair lied, they may not view the matter with as much seriousness as one might expect.