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Liberal Democrat Conference 2011: Nick Clegg speech; Nick Clegg speech SOT - This conference centre is on the site of the old Bingley Hall where William Gladstone stood a hundred and thirty years ago to found the National Liberal Federation. Gladstone observed that day that Birmingham had shown it was no place for 'weak-kneed Liberalism'. No change there then. So we are strong. United. True to our values. Back in Government and on your side.In Government you're faced with hard choices every day. The question is how you make them. Some ask 'how can we get a market to work here?' Others 'how can this win us more votes?' A few 'what will the press think?' For liberals, the litmus test is always the national interest. Not doing the easy thing. Doing the right thing. And that takes a certain kind of character. One which we've seen on display over the last few months. And indeed the last few days here in Birmingham. Brave. Principled. Awkward. Resolute. Optimistic. Unstoppable. No I'm not just talking about Paddy Ashdown. I am talking about everyone in this hall. - But I think people still need to know more about the character of our party. Not just how we govern, but why. We proved something about ourselves last year, when we faced a historic choice: Whether or not to enter Government in coalition with the Conservatives. The easy thing would have been to sit on the opposition benches throwing rocks at the Government as it tried to get control of the public finances. It might even, in the short run, have been more popular, but it would not have been right. At that moment, Britain needed a strong government. Alistair Darling's recent book is called "Back from the Brink" - in reality Labour left us on the brink. Teetering on the edge of an economic precipice. So we put aside party differences for the sake of the national interest. People before politics. Nation before party. And while other countries have been riven by political bickering, we have shown that a coalit...