British PM says he trusts his deputy, but are not yet friends

During an interview with the Daily Mail newspaper, Cameron said that both parties had taken a risk in governing together.

Asked if he would describe himself and Clegg as friends yet, Cameron replied: "Hmm. Well, we wouldn't go to the cinema together, quite, but we've had him and (his wife) Miriam round for supper."

Cameron has been accused of being closer to Clegg, in person and politics, than to some of his fellow Conservatives.

"Politics evolves. We trust one another. Both of us started off from the same position, taking a risk," he said. "It would probably have been easier not to do this, politically and personally."

"But in the end -- and I don't want to sound pompous or pious -- you ask yourself if you are doing the right thing for the country. We both think we are."

Cameron said he hoped the coalition would make a successful government.

"I want this to be more than a 'cuts-and-rescue' government. I want this to be a genuinely reforming and modernising government," he said.

Their coalition faces its first test at the polls on Thursday in a by-election in northwest England.