Cheryl Gillan urged Welsh Tories to adapt to devolution Is the Tory spring here at last?

In an speech on Saturday to the party's Welsh conference in Llandudno, she said the party had to adapt to devolution.

Meanwhile, the party's assembly leader Nick Bourne told delegates the Labour assembly government was a "tired administration".

Conservative leader David Cameron is due to address conference on Sunday.

Conservatives have changed their stance on the assembly since Mr Bourne led the campaign for a no vote in the 1997 devolution referendum.

Realistically there can be no turning back the clock or putting the genie back in the bottle Cheryl Gillan MP

Ms Gillan said on the eve of the Llandudno conference that she "might well be happy" for her party to campaign for a yes vote in any future referendum on primary powers for the Cardiff Bay institution.

She told reporters that the referendum had to be promised before establishing more clearly how the party would approach such a vote.

In her speech on Saturday, Ms Gillan told delegates: "The next Conservative government at Westminster will work constructively with an assembly government of whatever party, or parties, in the interests of all the people of Wales.

Nick Bourne looked for Tory gains in the next assembly elections

"Nor will we oppose giving the assembly more powers - if that is what the people of Wales clearly show in a referendum that that is what they want.

"Realistically there can be no turning back the clock or putting the genie back in the bottle".

Ms Gillan added that the party had to continue adapting to devolution.

She said: "Every one of us wants a Conservative government and everyone of us would wish for a Conservative assembly.

"But the truth is that if we are going to get close to realising that ambition then as a party we simply have to change with the times."

Tory assembly leader Mr Bourne claimed credit for a series of defeats on the minority Labour government in Cardiff Bay.

He told delegates that a Conservative motion led to the abolition of top-up fees for Welsh students in Wales, and Tories forced Labour to adopt the principle of NHS walk-in centres.

David Cameron is due to speak on Sunday

Mr Bourne added: "Labour's minority government has suffered significant defeats and the government has had to sit up and listen to Conservative thinking on more than one occasion."

He said that Labour had "lame duck leaders in Westminster and Wales" adding that First Minister Rhodri Morgan headed a "tired administration".

Mr Bourne concluded that in the 2007 assembly elections the Tories had "a real opportunity to change the face of Welsh politics".

New Conservative leader David Cameron will address the conference - whose working title is Change, Optimism and Hope - on Sunday.

In an interview with the Western Mail newspaper on Saturday, Mr Cameron said Labour's government in the Welsh assembly was outdated.

He said: "When you've got Rhodri Morgan, an old-style Jurassic Park figure talking about clear red water, top-down socialism, the need for a Conservative Party driven by the reform of public services and giving people more power is greater than ever."