#CPC13 Day 1

So it's my first ever conference and the first day was amazing. Here is a sum up of the day. 

The first thing I saw was all the lefties on the march through the centre of Manchester demanding no cuts to government and the economic collapse of Britain, a very good idea. There were also some smaller groups at the entrance of the conference from the NHS Party to people warning us about milk. The Badger people were also there telling  us about how the country is now run by the National Framer's Union, which I was not aware of. Indeed a giant badger started stalking us later shouting 'tally ho' and other hunting phrases, its 'what ho' not 'tally ho'. the protestors were quite extreme but Colonel Cooper and Mahyar 'Shadow' Tousi got the worst of it. 

But onto what really matters, the conference itself. I spent the day with Nadim Muslim and Alex Bright, forming a Nottingham trio, and we went around some of the fringe stalls. The best freebees on offer were the TSB bags which contained some rock, which has sold me into opening a new account. We voted in the Daily Politics mood box on the question of 'who was the strongest leader Cameron or Thatcher?'. Some mad people believed that Cameron was stronger than Thatcher, I hope they were pointed to the mental health stands. We also saw Elvis at the fringe singing to a lady having a coffee.

We had fun in the main hall too. We were a few rows in front of the action with Philip Hammond when it all kicked off about the 2nd Royal Fusiliers and here is the video that I got of it. Sadly I forgot to bring an SD reader to conference so I am using other people's photos.

William Hague however was the main player of the day for us. He gave the best speech today at conference, despite his cold, and told us about how with a growing Foreign Office presence across the world the UK is becoming a bigger global player every day. As we left the Hall I also met William Hague and congratulated him on his speech to which he thanked me for. Later on he popped up again at the Friends of Gibraltar event where he and the Chief Minister of Gibraltar gave a speech on how Gibraltar will remain British and not used as a bargaining chip with Spain like under the last Labour Government. #Sound.

Loving Mrs Hague's shoes.

At the Gibraltar event we met Andrew Rosindell MP, the Chief Finance Minister for Jersey, Philip Hammond (who had recovered from the protests) and the great Jacob Rees Mogg. Indeed we bumped into several MPs during the day including Robert Halfon who said he reads my blog. But the best chance meeting was Grant Shapps who had dinner with us at Nandos. We talked about Team 2015 (which Dave really loves) and how the party has really sharpened up its image, if this continues we will be in a great position for the General Election. 

Dinner with Grant Shapps

So that's the first day of conference. I'll be back tomorrow with more things to say about #CPC13.