As of today the Conservative Party, its delegates and its supporters gather in Manchester for their 126th Annual conference.

This is not set to be a make or break conference for the party or for the leadership of the party but it is expected to return some tough decisions. Amongst those tough decisions will be issues affecting those out of work in our country, issues affecting savers, issues affecting homeowners and issues affecting business owners among many others.

This will also be the first conference of the New Media age which includes the tools such as Twitter and other social media platforms. Aligned with the conference the Conservative Party is using the Twitter #hashtags of #Con09 and #cpc09 both are valid, both have separate streams of followers so to gain the most exposure to the discussions of the conference and to interact it is wise to use both thereby limiting your 140 characters even further.

During the Labour Party conference the #hashtag that was in use was #lab09 and it is fair to say that even non-Labour voters used the #hashtag to discuss matters relating to the conference. Such civilized use has not been seen thus far this week.

It would appear in another showing of how #labourlost the idea of fair play the Conservative Party #hashtags are being added to and abused. Already we have seen #bigcon09 #cono9 in what one can only assume is an attempt to play the joker with the former and perhaps sway unsure users with the latter.

I blogged a few days ago about how Labour need to learn their lesson and how they really need to move away from the negativity that has beset them for so long, sadly it appears that even as we move into a New Media age they cannot seem to understand that need.

With that in mind and if unchanged down the line I fear for their existence following the General Election.

Monday’s Agenda in brief

Ready for change:
Policy review chairman Oliver Letwin
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude
Mayor of London Boris Johnson

Reforming Politics – Accountability and Transparency:
Shadow Commons leader Sir George Young
Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie
Shadow foreign secretary William Hague

Reforming Politics – Decentralisation and Social Action:
Shadow communities secretary Caroline Spelman
Shadow minister for community cohesion Sayeeda Warsi

The NHS:
Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley