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Simon Hughes has told the Lib Dem conference he backs the government and Nick Clegg's leadership.
The party's Commons deputy leader said he is "a rock solid supporter of the coalition – which our party has democratically agreed will last for five years".
He told conference his role is to "make sure that decisions of government and parliament in the months to come, reflect the views and concerns of all my parliamentary colleagues and them the wider party".
Hughes claimed the Lib Dems are now "the strongest Liberal party in Europe".
He paid tribute to business secretary Vince Cable, who "without any doubt was one of the main reasons why the public judged we were fit and ready for government".
Hughes also reminded conference that the motions passed have influence on ministers and government "and therefore the everyday lives of the people of Britain".
"Coalition will not always be easy," he said.
"You may not like everything that this government will do.
"But I have been on the opposition benches for 27 years watching things I didn’t like and it didn't make it any easier for me or my south London constituents to suffer those things just because I knew I was not in any way responsible.
"When you move from the touchline to the pitch, there is a risk you may get some knocks and pick up a few bruises – but on the touchline you never get the chance to change the game.
"Now that we are in the game, one thing that we can say with absolute certainty is that from now we will not be ignored. Look at this conference.
"We will be failing generations of liberals if we do not seize this opportunity to reach out across the country and spread the message of liberal democracy far and wide.
"We must not give up for a moment in our mission to attract new sympathisers, new supporters and new voters, from every walk of life and from every community and country of the United Kingdom."
He urged the party to "mobilise and organise and win more seats and votes next May in the elections for the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and every English council".
"Now we are at last in the government of the United Kingdom, now more than ever is the time to stand for liberal democracy and win the battles for liberal democracy - to create a freer, fairer, greener and more democratic Britain, entirely different from the legacy of Tory and Labour single party governments over the last 50 years."
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