国际英语新闻：British deputy PM wins continued party support for coalition government

But there were no protests when Clegg told the conference: "Our first job is a difficult one -- balancing the budget ... It's the only choice if we want to steer Britain out of the mess the Labor government made."

He justified the speed of the cuts as necessary to reduce debt payments quickly: "Even when the cuts have happened we will still be spending 41 percent of our income, the same as in 2006, on debt repayment -- this isn't slash and burn."

He won strong applause at times throughout the speech, with some of the strongest coming up when he said that despite the demands of being a government minister, "I still believe the war in Iraq was an illegal war."

He criticized bankers, saying "they helped bring down our economy," and vowed to "be tough on tax cheats too."

He also announced a new policy, giving municipal authorities a new freedom to borrow against future extra business rates to help pay for additional new developments which will enable those businesses to operate.

Clegg's principal problem with his rank and file party members is that his party is from the left of center of politics and he took it into coalition with the Conservatives, from the center right.