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Over 40 per cent of Brits want Blair to resign over Kelly row
London, Sept 07: Over 40 per cent of British voters feel Prime Minister Tony Blair should resign over the death of weapons expert David Kelly, according to an opinion poll.
London, Sept 07: Over 40 per cent of British voters feel Prime Minister Tony Blair should resign over the death of weapons expert David Kelly, according to an opinion poll.
A Yougov poll published yesterday for the mail on Sunday tabloid showed that 43 per cent of voters believed Blair should quit, compared with 37 per cent before the inquiry into Kelly's apparent suicide began hearing from witnesses on August 11.
Blair has been blamed for his handling of row, in particular for his role in naming Kelly as the source of a BBC report that downing street had "sexed up" a September 2002 dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to beef up the case for war.
Kelly, a highly respected ministry of defence expert on Iraqi biological weapons, was found dead with a slit wrist on July 18 in woodland near his home in the English countryside.
The poll came as former British Cabinet Minister Clare Short rounded on Blair and his government for making Kelly's life "hell".
Short, who quit as Blair's overseas development minister in April in protest over the Iraq war, told the Independent that Blair's office and the defence ministry had used the scientist to get back at the BBC.
The resignation of Blair's former chief aide Alastair Campbell and the testimonies of senior intelligence analysts that the dossier was "over-egged" by "spin merchants" reflected a "disease that has corroded the integrity" of government, short said.
"Beneath (Blair's) smiling demeanour (is) a ruthlessness that is accompanied by a lack of respect for proper procedure, and a willingness to be economical with the actuality," Short told the newspaper.
Blair has been blamed for his handling of row, in particular for his role in naming Kelly as the source of a BBC report that downing street had "sexed up" a September 2002 dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to beef up the case for war.
Kelly, a highly respected ministry of defence expert on Iraqi biological weapons, was found dead with a slit wrist on July 18 in woodland near his home in the English countryside.
The poll came as former British Cabinet Minister Clare Short rounded on Blair and his government for making Kelly's life "hell".
Short, who quit as Blair's overseas development minister in April in protest over the Iraq war, told the Independent that Blair's office and the defence ministry had used the scientist to get back at the BBC.
The resignation of Blair's former chief aide Alastair Campbell and the testimonies of senior intelligence analysts that the dossier was "over-egged" by "spin merchants" reflected a "disease that has corroded the integrity" of government, short said.
"Beneath (Blair's) smiling demeanour (is) a ruthlessness that is accompanied by a lack of respect for proper procedure, and a willingness to be economical with the actuality," Short told the newspaper.
Bureau Report