I guess I should mention: the BBC is not Britain. Check out these front-pages from today’s British press. The reason that the press is more supportive than the BBC is because there’s real competition among the papers and the Beeb is a mandatory government-run service staffed with the usual people who go into government-run media, i.e. left-wing hacks. Meanwhile, polling shows an enormous swing toward the pro-war camp. From the Guardian:
The 15-point swing in public opinion recorded by the ICM survey means that there is now a clear majority, 54 percent, who back military action, after a sharp rise from 38 percent just a week ago. The results represent a sudden and widespread shift in public mood in Britain. Opposition to the war has slumped in the past seven days from 44% to only 30% of the public, the lowest level since the Guardian began tracking public opinion on this issue last August.
I predicted this, but not to this extent. Blair too is reaping a sudden huge windfall of new support:
Both a weekend ICM poll and the latest YouGov poll also show significant strengthening of Mr Blair’s approval rating. In the ICM/News of the World poll, Mr Blair registered a plus-18 approval rating for his Iraq policy (compare that with his minus-11 showing in our own poll just a week previously). In the YouGov/Daily Telegraph poll, the improvement in Mr Blair’s standing runs well ahead of the growing support for the attack on Iraq. Labour’s own internal polling shows the swing is particularly strong among the skilled working-class voters, whose loyalties tend to determine elections, and lowest among the middle-classes.
Heck, I’d vote for him next time. Blair is teaching an old lesson: if you lead, they will follow.
The Dish 