By John Stevenson BBC Wales political reporter

David Cameron has supported Tony Blair over education reform

Llandudno, the queen of resorts, is of course in the Conwy constituency.

Conwy was held for decades by former Welsh Office minister Wyn Roberts, but is now represented by Labour in both Westminster and the assembly.

How the Tories do in Conwy in the 2007 assembly elections will be an important indicator for the rest of Wales.

For the first time since the Tory meltdown in the 1997 election, Welsh Tories now firmly believe they have finally turned a corner.

One wonders whether Tory grassroots traditionalists realised what they let themselves in for when they elected Cameron

Many feel, although they may not be familiar with the phrase, that they have now begun finally "to smell the coffee". That's the term which former party treasurer Michael Ashcroft used in his book to urge fellow members to take their collective heads out of the sand

When they talk about "smelling the coffee", Conservatives mean that the party has now faced up to its electoral problems and started to tackle them head on.

David Cameron met Rukon Ahmed, 15, in Cardiff in December 2005

The election of the new leader has, undoubtedly, a great deal to do with that change of mood. David Cameron, a comparatively young and undoubtedly photogenic politician, appears to many Tories to be the stuff of which potential prime ministers are made

Mr Cameron, who will speak in Llandudno on Sunday, was chosen because he promised change.

Subtle tactics

But as the full extent of the changes has in mind become apparent, one wonders whether the traditionalists in the Tory grassroots, of whom there are many in Wales, realised what they let themselves in for.

But before Mr Cameron gets the opportunity to go head-to-head with the new Labour leader, Tories first have to marshall the troops for next year's assembly elections.

One of the first of the conference keynote speeches will be from the Conservatives' leader in the assembly, Nick Bourne.

What is clear, having read an advance of Mr Bourne's speech, is that his approach is different to the more subtle tactics of his party leader in Westminster.

Welsh Tories can only really raise their game when they begin to roll out their policies for Wales

Mr Cameron has offered to help Tony Blair to get his controversial English education proposals through the Commons, thereby wrong footing the prime minister when it came to dealing his own side

"Oppositionitis" though, means attacking the government at each and every opportunity. It means attacking for every real or imagined failure of delivery or presentation.

Nick Bourne believes his party can 'change the face of Welsh politics'

This weekend, Mr Bourne will paint Rhodri Morgan and his assembly government as a "tired administration, empty of ideas but "full of hollow gimmicks"

Policies made in Wales

Mr Bourne will also outline a series of measures and government defeats, which proves, he will claim, that because of Tory opposition, "Labour is being forced to sit up and listen"

"Welsh Conservatives have the real opportunity to change the face of welsh politics," Mr Bourne will say.

But the Welsh Tories can only really raise their game when they begin to roll out their policies for Wales.

Questions will be asked whether those policies are "made in Wales" or tweaked to meet Welsh needs from policy templates issued by Conservative Central Office.

Conservatives such as David Melding, Guto Bebb and more recently Dylan Jones Evans believe that the Welsh party will only prosper when the party begins to outline its own particular Welsh brand of Conservatism.

Will the Welsh Conservative Party begin that process?