ICM poll reveals UK foreign policy is unpopular and many British think less of their country than our neighbours do
The French distrust us, the Germans aren't sure but the Poles and Spanish are fans. The second part of the Guardian's poll of leading European Union states suggests fellow Europeans keep a wary but sometimes affectionate eye on Britain.
Overall, the poll of more than 5,000 people, carried out online by the Guardian's established polling partner ICM, reveals that Britain is still seen as a broad force for good in the world, but also a disruptive and not particularly influential one. Our foreign policy is notably unpopular.
The results also highlight that, despite the current military alliance, the French entente with the UK is far from cordial. While people in the other nations are more likely to admire Britain than not, opinion is the reverse in France: less than 25% there say they admire Britain; more than one-third say the opposite. By contrast, a third of Germans and Poles and almost a third of Spaniard say they admire Britain, while less than 25% say the opposite.
Britain seems to have lost any reputation it had for fair play. Only a quarter of those questioned in the five countries – including Britain – agree with the suggestion that the UK is characterised by honesty and integrity. Most Europeans either hold no opinion either way or definitely disagree. Only one-third of Britons think their country is notably honest.
Even so, this country is not without European friends. We may even suffer from false modesty about our standing: the British are less likely to think that the UK is well-regarded around the world than other Europeans. Overall, almost half of people polled think Britain is well-regarded. Less than one-fifth disagree. About one in 20 of those polled said they had visited Britain, with the French – unsurprisingly – the most likely to have come.
Whether or not they have seen the sights, they know how we think. Europeans feel strongly that the UK is a particularly insular nation: almost half agree, while just over one in 10 definitely do not. A majority of Germans, French and Spaniards think we are particularly inward-looking. The Poles – and less surprisingly the British – think slightly differently. But everywhere people who believe Britain looks out to the world are in a minority.
Even so, Europeans seem less resentful than might be expected about Britain's role in the EU. Among all those polled, more people disagree with the suggestion that Britain plays a negative role in EU affairs than agree. But that hides some marked differences of national opinion: the French more than anyone else believe quite strongly that the UK plays a negative role in the EU, while the Poles firmly believe the opposite.
This does not necessarily make us important. Almost half of those questioned think Britain is no longer an influential player in world politics, but that result is skewed by particular negativity at home. In France, about one-third think we are unimportant; in Germany closer to half. That may be a legacy of events such as the Iraq war. Only a quarter of all those questioned think Britain's foreign policy is a force for good in the world; a similar proportion disagree. The rest have no strong opinion.
Germans are by far the most critical of our foreign policy and the Spanish most supportive. In France, about a quarter think our international policies are a force for good; in self-flagellating Britain that total climbs to one-third.