Will Britain's Rivalries Harm Governance? LONDON - Like other Europeans, Britons are burdened by austerity programs supposed to haul the nation out of crippling, accumulated debt. And, for those in those country who had not realized it before, the swingeing cuts in public spending are likely to be deeper and more protracted than expected. That is the message likely to emerge from the governing Conservative Party's annual autumnal conference - the start of a new political season - underway in the Midlands city of Birmingham. George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is likely to confirm plans to cut an additional £10 billion, or $16 billion, in addition to £18 billion already scheduled, from the budget for social housing and other benefits. In political terms, cutting the bill for benefits open to abuse is seen in Conservative ranks as a vote-winner, reflecting the broad sense in the Conservative heartland that cheats are milking the state coffers. But other aspects of welfare - free bus travel for retirees (however wealthy) or state contributions to winter fuel bills - carry heavy political freight. Mr. Osborne has already said in a newspaper article on Sunday that those benefits will be preserved as the country pulls its belt ever tighter. The austerity program, Mr. Osborne believes, is "taking longer than we hoped, because the damage was greater than we feared." The cuts are an abiding source of political friction with the junior coalition partner, the Liberal Democrats, who want the rich to pay more to draw down the debt. But, according to excerpts published in advance of his speech, Mr. Osborne believes that "just as we should never balance the budget on the backs of the poor, so it's an economic delusion to think you can balance it only on the wallets of the rich." In theory, Mr. Osborne's announcements are at center-stage of the Conservative conclave in advance of Prime Minister David Cameron's own keynote address. But political insiders are keeping a close eye on a planned appearance later by the maverick Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, a Conservative who has frequently upstaged the party elite with eye-catching - and vote-winning - antics. The rivalry with Mr. Cameron, as depicted in this column on Page Two of The International Herald Tribune - is not the only fissure cleaving British politics, raising questions about the extent to which personality duels in all the main political parties are distracting leaders from the real business of tackling a deep and abiding economic crisis.