Most people think PM smug, says poll

Six out of 10 people regard Tony Blair as "smug" and three out of 10 want him to stand down as soon as possible, an opinion poll shows.

The survey of 2,150 voters last weekend by YouGov Opinion Research for Channel 4 News suggests people believe Gordon Brown would do a better job as Prime Minister than Mr Blair and is more trusted than him on the issue of the single currency.

While 51 per cent believe Mr Blair is doing well as Prime Minister and 46 per cent say he is doing badly, 55 per cent think Mr Brown would do well and only 29 per cent badly.

On the euro, Mr Blair is trusted a lot to take the right decisions by 37 per cent, but 58 per cent do not trust him much or at all. More people trust Mr Brown (48 per cent) than do not (43 per cent).

If a referendum were held now, 51 per cent would vote not to join the euro and 39 per cent would vote to go in. Twenty-nine per cent of people want Mr Blair to stand down as Labour leader as soon as possible (including 11 per cent of Labour voters) while a further 11 per cent say he should step down shortly before the next general election and 11 per cent shortly afterwards. But 39 per cent want him to stay.

Three times as many people (62 per cent) regard Mr Blair as smug as not (21 per cent). He is seen as untrustworthy by 45 per cent and trustworthy by only 21 per cent.

An overwhelming majority (86 per cent) believe ministers often deliberately distort the truth to make the Government look better than it is. But 75 per cent think newspapers do the same to make the Government look worse than it is.

And more than half the people (56 per cent) believe minor royals should receive no taxpayers' support or subsidised accommodation.