British Prime Minister Tony Blair admitted on Wednesday that the government has yet to convince the British people that the Iraq war was justified.
Asked whether he believed voters mistrusted his administration in his monthly televised press conference at Downing Street, Blair said "I accept there is an issue which we have to confront."
"What we did in Iraq was right and justified and that's a case that we have to prove over time," he said.
Meanwhile, he fended off questions about the apparent suicide of weapons expert David Kelly, who was at the center of a row overclaims the government had "sexed up" evidence of Iraqi arms, saying such questions would be examined by Lord Hutton's inquiry.
Asked if there needed to be a change in political culture following Kelly's death, Blair answered:" There are issues there ... to look at for both the media and politicians."
Pressed on whether he would resign if no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq, Blair said voters would ultimately judge his government on domestic issues, rather than on the controversy surrounding the Iraq war.
"Whatever issues have been dominating the news for the past year frankly, the public in the end will judge us on the economy, the health service, schools, crime," Blair said.
"Those are the big issues for the public," he added.
Blair also highlighted Labor's achievements in delivering economic stability, cutting child poverty, investing in schools and hospitals and reducing crime.
"The overall record is one that bears comparison with any government, Labor or Conservative, in the past," Blair claimed.
Blair, who will become the longest serving Labor leader in Britain on August 2 and still pursues the third term in power, now has been plunged into the biggest ever crisis during his premiership due to the row on Iraq's banned weapons evidence climaxed by Kelly's death.
Kelly was found dead on July 18 with his wrist slit days after he was grilled by a parliamentary committee as the possible source of a BBC report saying Downing Street had "sexed up" evidence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction so as to take the country into the US-led war on Iraq.
Blair said earlier he would not quit over the affair. But analysts believe the Kelly affair has inflicted an irreversible hurt on his leadership.
(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2003)
