Boris who?

It's the question Welsh Tories here are asking: who's that with Shazia Awan?

Shazia, from Cardiff, was a conference virgin before her arrival in Birmingham this week but has spent the past few days asking questions from the conference floor and rubbing shoulders with the stars of today's Conservative Party.

According to her blog on the official Tory website, she's yet to return to her hotel before 3am. (You know how it is. You fall into conversation about the Barnett formula, LCOs and such like

and, before you know it, it's almost dawn.....).

Shazia has passed her "parliamentary assessment" so can now apply for seats and is tipped for greater things.

She appears to be so on message she's even dressing in party colours: "Getting ready was bit of a mission this morning as I donned a yellow dress; promptly got told to change into blue... I did a rare moment of doing what I was told."

Hmm.....There is a new tradition of on-message bloggers at party conferences. Wales Office Minister Huw Irranca-Davies blogged from Labour's bash in Manchester.

Here's his take on Ruth Kelly's departure from Gordon Brown's Cabinet: "I do hope that the media handles this news responsibly, and refrains from spinning it into something it isn't."

Quite right, too. This was a routine resignation announced in a press briefing at 3am in a hotel lobby. It would be totally irresponsible to infer anything else from it.

Here in Birmingham, the conference has been overshadowed by the global economic crisis. David Cameron is making an unscheduled speech to the conference today amid talk of Parliament being recalled tomorrow.

The crisis has yet to hit some of the party faithful.

Unable to gain entry into the packed call here, one representative apparently headed for Harvey Nichols where she emerged with a Chloe handbag. I'm told they cost around £800 each.

Credit crunch: what credit crunch?