LONDON, Nov 13: One-third of Britons believe that US President George Bush poses a greater threat to world peace than Saddam Hussein, according to a poll released on Thursday.

The survey, commissioned for Britain’s Channel 4 News, also found that a similar number of Britons had no trust in President Bush whatsoever and almost half thought Prime Minister Tony Blair was behaving like his lapdog.

Seventy-six percent believed military action against Iraq may be necessary but only 13 percent definitely backed a strike on Baghdad, while nine percent were against. The pollsters did not account for the remaining two percent.

Asked to rate their trust in the two leaders on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 reflecting total trust, 54 percent gave Bush a rating of two or lower. Thirty two percent rated him zero. Sixty percent gave Blair a rating of five or less.

Of those undecided about military conflict, 49 percent said Saddam posed the greatest threat to world peace, while 32 percent said Bush posed the bigger danger.

Forty-six percent believed Blair, who has given unquestioned public backing to Washington’s tough line against Saddam, was Bush’s lapdog. Thirty-five percent thought Blair was a restraining influence on the US leader.

US pollster Frank Luntz, who sampled over 3,200 people for Thursday’s survey, said the message for Blair was clear: his staunch backing for Bush was harming his image at home.

“I would suggest that Blair ring up the broadcast media and say ‘Keep President Bush, keep (vice president) Dick Cheney, keep all Americans with these American accents off television’.”—Reuters