When the British ‘Tommy’ went to war, public opinion followed

Abstract

This article seeks to outline how public opinion changed over the course of the government's announcement of 2nd Gulf War in Iraq until the scandal over the alleged ‘sexed-up’ Downing Street intelligence dossier. Using quantitative analysis of opinion poll data, together with in-depth interviews with journalists to show how the media were complicit in providing a positive spin for the government's stance on war, the authors conclude that the positive change in public opinion once the British soldiers were deployed occurred through one of the following mechanisms: 1) a patriotic effect, 2) government communication expertise and the management of a complicit news media, 3) the public basked in the reflected glory of the initially successful military or 4) some combination of the above. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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