I’ve been attending Tory Conferences since the mid 1980s. Until last year I had enjoyed every one of them, to one degree or another. If I tell you that at last year’s conference I was working as Chief of Staff to David Davis, you may get an inkling as to why it wasn’t exactly the happiest week in my life. But time moves on, and a year later the Conservative Party meets in Bournemouth in very good heart.

 

Indeed, I am told that there are 40 per cent more representatives (being the true inheritors of Burke, we don’t believe in ‘delegates’) attending this year than last. Obviously this is good news, but it will be interesting to see if the ‘makeup’ of the Tory conference audience has changed. There are usually a lot of very young people attending and also a lot of older people. It’s the 25-50 year olds who tend to be missing.

 

I expect to see a lot more younger people and a lot more women. The change of timetable from Monday-Thursday to Sunday-Wednesday has been designed to help more women and people of working age to attend. We’ll see if the reality matches the wish.

 

The conference agenda is markedly different this year. Gone are the stage-managed sessions where Shadow Cabinet Ministers take to the podium, read an autocued speech and receive a standing ovation. This year there is a remarkable innovation  - genuine debates on issues which matter to real people. There’s even a ‘dragons’ den session’ where would be Tory candidates get to ‘sell’ a policy idea to a panel of dragons led Ann Widdecombe. Despite being a prospective candidate I have to admit I have wimped out of that one. Francis Maude has been much maligned for some of the reforms he has brought in during his stint as Party Chairman, but his conferences innovations are well thought-out and should prove highly popular.

 

I’m told the number of commercial exhibitors has risen dramatically too – always a sure sign that a political party is on the right road. For the first time in years the Conservatives are being taken seriously by business and pressure groups.

 

The real politics takes place on the Fringe. In years gone by I would religiously attend meetings held by the Selsdon Group where Dr Rhodes Boyson would hold forth and recharge our philosophical batteries for the years to come. Nowadays you’re more likely to run into Anita Roddick than Rhodes Boyson.

 

David Cameron is all about change. This week will tell if he has been successful in his first steps to change the Party and the conference. I’ll be blogging every day both on CommentIsFree and on my blog at http://iaindale.blogspot.com. The theme of my pieces for CommentIsFree will be ‘Change’. To what extent does this conference prove that the Conservatives have changed and are willing to embrace the whole concept of change.

 

It promises to be a fascinating few days.