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Nick Clegg has defended his decision to reject an alliance with Labour, saying it would have been "unworkable" and seen as "illegitimate" by voters.Writing in the Guardian, the new deputy prime minister acknowledged the Liberal Democrat-Conservative coalition had caused "surprise and some offence".
But the Lib Dem leader said there was "no other responsible way" to play "the hand dealt" by British voters.
His remarks come ahead of a special Lib Dem meeting to discuss the coalition.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister David Cameron announced the Liberal Democrats had agreed to form a coalition government, before appointing four cabinet posts to Lib Dem MPs, and making Nick Clegg his deputy.
The deal is said to have disappointed grassroots Liberal Democrats.
'Only option'
Mr Clegg wrote that he knew his decision had "caused much surprise and with it some offence".
"There are those on both the left and right who are united in thinking this should not have happened.
"But the truth is this: there was no other responsible way to play the hand dealt to the political parties by the British people at the election.
"The parliamentary arithmetic made a Lib-Lab coalition unworkable and it would have been regarded as illegitimate by the British people.
"Equally, a minority administration would have been too fragile to tackle the political and economic challenges ahead," he added.
He went on to say the coalition's agenda was one of "liberalism", and accepted there would be some difficulties in the future.
"As the coalition moves ahead there will be bumps and scrapes along the way; there has already been significant compromise from both sides and there will of course need to be more."
But, he wrote, "our strength depends on being the sum of our parts".
In a separate article for the same newspaper, the new Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable insisted the coalition was united in wanting to break up banks and tackling big bank bonuses.
"The underlying assumption is that there will have to be restructuring in the banking system in order to make the system safe," Mr Cable said.
"Vast bonuses, particularly where it involves cash payments, are just not acceptable and that will be stopped by the new government and properly regulated in the interests of reducing risk."This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.