Blair
further risks losing the Muslim vote in the next election with Muslim
MPs warning that the eligible voters would desert Labour because of
the government's military involvement in Iraq.
Sadiq
Khan told a fringe meeting organized by Muslims for Labour that “all
the good work” on the domestic front was being overshadowed by
widespread concern about foreign policy.
A
recent British poll showed that Labour’s share of the British Muslim
vote has
due to the Iraq invasion.
The
traditional Muslim support for Labour slumped from 75 percent at the
last general election to only 38 percent now because of the war, which
has also tarnished the image of Blair in the eyes of the Muslim
community, according to a Guardian/ICM poll.
Adamant
Blair
Earlier,
Blair told the BBC's Breakfast with Frost that he would not apologize
for the Iraq war though admitting some mistakes.
Blair,
keen to lead Labour to a third term in power in an election likely in
May or June next year, had hoped that after 18 months of the Iraq
invasion, he would be able to refocus attention on domestic issues
such as health care and education reform.
Quizzed
on reports he had considered resigning earlier this year, Blair
replied: “I'm not the wobbling sort (hesitant),” the BBC News
Online reported.
“What
some people want me to do is to say sorry for getting rid of Saddam
and that I cannot say because I do not believe it,” he said.
He
went on: “When I hear people say because of the difficulties, we
should pull our troops out, my response is that would be to surrender
to the terrorists.”
With
three mixed polls published Sunday - one in the News of the World
putting the Tories ahead by 32% to 29% for the Lib Dems and Labour on
28% - it was a struggle.
Tory
chairman Liam Fox derided confusion over what was running Labour's
election campaign.
“With
an ongoing war in Iraq, the countryside in chaos and public services
failing to improve, the public are getting extremely fed up with the
selfish bickering of Labour Party leaders,” he told the BBC.
