Most Britons no longer trust their Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, and expect public services to get worse, a newspaper poll revealed today.
The MORI poll, commissioned by the Financial Times, said Mr Blair had lost the trust of nearly two-thirds of the public, with the same number agreeing he was "losing his grip". Forty-three per cent of Labour supporters shared the same view.
Mr Blair's credibility has been hit in recent weeks by the failure to discover any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq - the government's primary justification for war. Nearly 40 per cent said "they used to trust him before the beginning of the year, but they don't trust him now".
The Labour Party is also failing to improve public services, with most people polled expecting worse to come for education, health, transport, policing and the environment.
Conservative leader Mr Iain Duncan Smith received a satisfaction rating of 21 per cent, compared to Mr Blair's 31, but Liberal Democrat leader Mr Charles Kennedy had the best rating with 37 per cent.
The poll, which interviewed 1,002 adults on June 20th-22nd, also found 83 per cent felt the Labour party were split over membership of the euro, compared to 60 per cent for the Conservatives.
Chancellor Gordon Brown said "not yet" to the euro in early June, saying four of the five detailed economic tests he set in 1997 had not been met. But a decision by Mr Brown to recommend euro entry would only see a 3 per cent swing to a yes vote, the poll showed.