The Hindu : Most Britons back Blair's Libya visit

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 29, 2004

International

International

Most Britons back Blair's Libya visit

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, MARCH 28. Most Britons have come out in support of the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair's visit to Libya last despite a continuing controversy in right-wing political circles over the timing of his meeting with the Libyan leader, Muammar Qadhafi.

More than 60 per cent Britons told an opinion poll that they strongly backed Mr. Blair's initiative in restoring normal relations with Libya. According to the finings of a YuvGov poll for The Observer newspaper, a "clear majority'' supported restoration of full diplomatic and trade relations with Libya. "When Tony Blair took his controversial decision to visit Libya last week and meet Colonel Gaddafi, he faced a double risk. First that the meeting would go badly, and second that British public opinion would condemn this decision. It is now clear that both risks have paid off. Not only did the meeting go without a hitch, the poll finds that the public backs Blair's visit by more than three to one,'' Peter Kellner, chairman of YuvGov told The Observer.

The poll came as Mr. Blair's critics accused him of diplomatic "grandstanding'', and called his visit a desperate attempt to project his image as a "peace-maker'' after being branded a "war-monger'' over his support for the Iraq invasion. Television pictures of Mr. Blair's meeting with the Libyan leader Colonel Qadhafi in the latter's famous desert tent, brought sneers from his political opponents who recalled Tripoli's alleged role in the 1988 Lockerbie air disaster.

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