By Ollie Stone-Lee BBC News Online political staff

Theresa May says the opportunity is there for the Tories

Her message is clear, despite her trying to fight off an untimely cold as she prepares for the party's annual conference in Blackpool, which begins on Sunday.

It is a year since Mrs May warned the Tory faithful they were seen as the "nasty party" - a call which captured the news as much as front page pictures of her kitten heels.

The leopard print sofa cushions in Mrs May's London office are a reminder of those famous shoes but she is saying nothing about this year's shoes, despite my suggestion that she has herself had a hand in designing them.

Instead, she is focused on putting the boot into Labour failures while spreading the word on why a Tory government would be different.

"We've moved now to the position now where we've earned the right to be heard. People are more disillusioned with Labour's failure to deliver, their failure to give them a fair deal."

Back foot?

The local elections in May, when the Conservatives gained hundreds of council seats, helped to create a more confident mood in the party after the backbiting about Iain Duncan Smith's leadership.

But has that more positive outlook been blighted by being pushed into third place as the Liberal Democrats triumphed over Labour at the Brent East by-election.

"No, it hasn't put us on the back foot," says Mrs May. "I've described Brent East on a number of occasions as not natural Conservative territory... It's not just me saying that."

Shops sold out of May's conference shoes last year

She points to election gurus who have argued that disenchanted Labour voters in the constituency had looked around for a "Labourish" party and would not naturally switch to the vote Conservatives.

She rejects criticisms of the party's response to the by-election result, which saw it accuse the Lib Dems of a "strategic blunder" in trying to appear left-wing.

"And to say that Brent East is not natural Conservative territory is not to say that our message is not going to get into areas that otherwise it hasn't been in, or that in some sense we are not going to be a party of the One Nation.

"We will be a party, as we always have been, of One Nation and our policies will be policies that will deliver for people across the board."

Health changes

There are no "no go" areas for the Tories on policy development, she argues, pointing to Mr Duncan Smith's visits to deprived inner city areas.

Those words certainly match the "fair deal for everyone" theme which will be put in lights in Blackpool.

Sceptics argue that behind the slogan, policies like the "patient's passports" for healthcare will only benefit those who can already afford to opt out of the state sector.

Mrs May counters that the policy is for everyone. Yes, it will give some financial support to people going private for treatment - something that people are already doing.

Patients' passports are a flagship Tory health policy

"But the crucial aspect of patients passports that the commentators fail to address and fail to reflect all too often is that it would give choice to patients who are in the NHS.

"So patients would be able to have their operations where they felt it was appropriate within the NHS. People might very well want to select a different hospital."

She says that policy will boost capacity by allowing parents to take the money spent on their children in poor-performing schools to other schools - possibly new schools.

"This is what is happening in some parts of the country - we see it already, parents getting together and setting up their own schools, albeit on a small scale, because they're fed up with standards."

Two or more years out from a general election, the Conservatives not offered much in the way of promises on specific tax cuts - something which is said to have worried some shadow cabinet ministers.

Mrs May insists that when voters go to the polls, they will be able to see policies which combine lower taxes with quality public services.

'Total politics'

Despite the policies which have been unveiled over the last year, former cabinet minister Michael Portillo is among those Tories complaining that people do not know what the party stands for.

So, can Mrs May suggest the three clear sentences about Conservative beliefs which Mr Portillo says are needed?

The party has come a long way since Duncan Smith's election, says May

"Well, I don't think in terms of what Conservatives stand for you need three sentences to describe it.

"Conservatives stand for freedom and choice and trusting people. We always have done. We stand for enterprise. And these are the themes already being developed under the policies that we've announced."

She argues that despite being politicians themselves, the Tories will have no difficulty getting voters to believe its attack on Labour's "total politics" centralising agenda and its "target-driven culture".

'Come a long way'

Mrs May shrugs off press reports of sniping at her own performance and says the party understands disunity does not win elections.

She is firm in the face of claims that with the government troubled on a range of fronts, the Conservatives just should be doing much better.

"I think you have to look at where the party's come from. Two years ago when Iain took over as leader we were 20 points behind Labour in the opinion polls. Now we're at parity or just above them. So we have moved a long way forward."

It has been a long process because people gave Labour a second chance in 2001 and gradually have become disillusioned, she says.

"It is an important conference precisely because of the point at which we are in British politics today.

"I think the opportunity is there for us now. It hasn't been there for the past decade, but it is there now. And we have to build on that and grasp that opportunity."

Mrs May hopes activists will feel that they have got the ammunition "to go out there and proclaim the message".

The shoe retailers will no doubt be hoping that, like last year, they will first stop to buy their own versions of their chairman's conference footwear.