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Good morning from Manchester, home to the team immediately below Cardiff City in the Premier League and - for one week only - the Conservative Party.

As with the other conferences, I got a few minutes with the party leader: a chance to ask David Cameron a few questions (hopefully) of relevance to a Welsh audience.

Downing Street (as Ed Miliband's team before him) were briefed on the subjects I wanted to cover. Having interviewed earlier this month the deputy prime minister, I wanted to know if David Cameron agreed with Nick that the Conservatives are responsible for delays in the UK government deciding whether or not to give the Welsh government more powers after last year's report by the Silk commission.

Not surprisingly, he didn't, attributing the delay to, a consultation which ended on September 10.

The prime minister did suggest he could see the merits of the Welsh government gaining the power to vary taxes - or, as he put it: "The idea that Welsh representatives should be thinking about how they raise money as well as just how they spend money, as someone who is a Conservative and someone who believes we need to be careful with public money, with taxpayers' money, that has a lot of attraction."

When will we find out the UK government's plans? Originally promised by the end of Spring, then variously offered "shortly", "in due course" and "very soon", Mr Cameron could offer only an assurance that it would be sorted in the months to come.

The prime minister got into his stride when asked how he assessed the debate over the Welsh government's powers in terms of voters' priorities.

His view was that what he called "the bubble in Cardiff" (presumably politicians and the media) was "completely obsessed" with powers even though voters were more concerned with issues such as jobs and public services.

That argument was music to the ears of the Welsh Tory leader, Andrew RT Davies, who told me: "When you mention Silk, most people think you're talking about underwear.