British Prime Minister Tony Blair risks losing the support of voters, including many of those who put him into power, if no weapons of mass destruction are found in Iraq, according to a poll.
Blair has come under increasing pressure in the last few days about his motives for attacking Iraq amid accusations he had mislead parliament and the public over Saddam Hussein's suspected banned weapons.
A YouGov survey for Sky News published on Wednesday found that people were fairly evenly divided on whether Blair had told the truth with 46 percent of those questioned saying they trusted him while 43 percent believing he had distorted information.
Significantly 60 percent said the weapons issue would influence which party they would vote for at a general election, with 18 percent saying they might change their vote as a direct result if no weapons were found.
The poll found that trust in Blair even amongst supporters of his Labour Party would decline if no weapons of mass destruction were found. It said 48 percent of voters who backed Labour to its 2001 landslide victory would no longer trust Blair on other political matters.
The United States and Britain ousted the Iraqi leader on the grounds that his weapons posed a serious threat, but no chemical, biological or nuclear arms have been found, prompting claims they hyped up intelligence to justify war.
Blair has angrily denied such allegations but the parliamentary foreign affairs committee said on Tuesday it would launch an inquiry into the reasons for war.