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British foreign policy: the elite v the public
Statistics show conclusively that the majority of Brits have repeatedly frightened the Establishment by consistently opposing military adventurism abroad, writes IAN SINCLAIR
SCARING THE ELITES: An anti-war march in Manchester city centre, where the 2008 Labour Party Conference was held

TWO polls published earlier this month make interesting reading.

Asked by YouGov “Do you think the UK was right or wrong to take military action in the following wars…?”, just 26 per cent of respondents answered it was right to take military action in the 1991 Gulf War, 29 per cent in Kosovo in 1999, and only 20 per cent in Afghanistan and 16 per cent in Iraq in 2003, while 48 per cent and 54 per cent said it was wrong to take military action in Afghanistan and Iraq, respectively.

Another poll by Focaldata for news and opinion website Unherd found 44 per cent of respondents thought Britain should be less engaged in overseas conflicts, compared to just 7 per cent who said the nation should be more engaged.

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