LONDON, Sept 28: British Prime Minister Tony Blair, facing the worst crisis of his six-year tenure, on Sunday signalled his determination to serve a third term in office despite a continued slump in the polls for both him and his ruling Labour party.

In a damaging blow to the prime minister, polls showed Labour has slumped to its lowest level since 1987, a decade before Blair won his first general election. Almost half of all voters, including many Labour supporters, want Blair to quit over his handling of the Iraq war.

A YouGov poll for The Sunday Times newspaper has put Labour on 30 per cent — three points behind the Conservatives and neck-and-neck with the Liberal Democrats, Britain’s third main party. For the first time, all three parties are tied on 31 per cent, according to an ICM poll in the News of the World.

Worryingly for Blair, voter disillusionment is reflected among Labour party activists.

A YouGov poll of 301 party members for The Observer newspaper found that 41 per cent want him to stand down before the next election. ICM’s poll found that 64 per cent of voters no longer trust Blair and 48 per cent want him to quit.

Half the British public believe Blair should resign, according to a Mori survey for the Financial Times published on Saturday.

According to the YouGov poll in The Observer, 57 per cent believe Blair was wrong to sanction military action against Iraq and 81 per cent said he exaggerated the case for war either deliberately (37 per cent) or unintentionally (44 per cent).—AFP