Danny Kruger has become the first sitting Conservative MP to defect to Reform UK.
The East Wiltshire politician has been made head of Reform’s new unit preparing the party for government, Reform leader Nigel Farage announced on stage at a news conference.
Politics latest: Kruger’s letters to constituents
Mr Kruger has been a Conservative MP since 2019 and has been on the Tory frontbench since then, lately as a shadow work and pensions minister under Kemi Badenoch’s leadership.
He said he informed the Tory chief whip this morning.
Announcing his defection, Mr Kruger said: “The Conservative Party is over, over as a national party, over as the principal opposition to the Left.
“But I am not despondent because conservatism is not over. It’s never been needed more. And actually, it’s never been more vibrant.
“Because the failure of the Conservative Party has created space for an alternative. The flame is passing from one torch to another.”
He said his defection is “very painful” but added: “I’m leaving because I think the party is over.”
Image:
Nigel Farage shakes hands with former Conservative MP Danny Kruger. Pic: PA
The Tory party is not dead
The MP told Sky News political correspondent Liz Bates: “I don’t think the Conservative Party is dead. It’s just over as the official opposition.”
He added that Mr Farage “may be our last hope” on the political Right and he is “proud to follow him”, although he admitted defecting is a “big risk”, especially as his seat is “not particularly” a Reform target.
Mr Kruger, who is TV chef Dame Prue Leith’s son, has become most well-known for leading opposition to the assisted dying bill – and his differing views on the subject from his mother, who is an advocate.
The MP said he has been a Conservative activist and MP for more than 20 years, but he does not believe the “divided, discredited Conservative Party” can unite to win power and “deliver the change that is needed”.
Image:
Reform deputy leader Richard Tice (second from right) and Reform’s billionaire treasurer Nick Candy (right) listened intently to Danny Kruger. Pic: PA
He said he has “great personal regard” for Conservative leader Ms Badenoch and thinks she has done a “very, very difficult job with courage and resilience” – but said “the problem is the Conservative Party”, which he claimed is divided and “a toxic brand”.
The MP revealed he started to think about defecting when Lee Anderson, a Tory MP who became an independent, moved to Reform in June 2024.
Mr Kruger said it was “fair enough” to be questioned about how he, as an Eton and Oxford graduate, can understand the British people, but pointed to the charity he founded working in prisons to stop re-offending and his work as a constituency MP.
Kruger’s defection has a different feel
Liz Bates
@wizbates
Even amid a wave of news (Mandelson), Reform are adept at grabbing headlines, and defectors.
Another news conference from them gave us another new face and a big political shock.
Danny Kruger is the first sitting Conservative MP to leave his party and join the other side (Lee Anderson had already been suspended).
And this one had a different feel to it – as Mr Kruger is much more the traditional Tory than those that came before him.
An Eton and Oxbridge-educated politician from the Conservative heartland seat of East Wiltshire – he looks and sounds like part of the Tory party furniture.
But his assessment of their future couldn’t have been more damning – he has not, he says, abandoned conservatism, it simply has a new home with Reform.
Asked if he believes the Tories have a future at all, he said never as the political opposition.
This is why it could represent yet another breakthrough moment for Farage’s party – if even MPs like him are wavering, Reform could take swathes of the Conservatives and even more political momentum.
A change of heart
The MP appears to have changed his mind on Reform’s professional accolades after telling MPs in the Commons in July: “I do quite like the Reform Party and I agree with its members on lots of things, but there is a problem: They would spend money like drunken sailors.
“I can see what is happening and I am very worried about it – they will end up in an electoral pact with the Liberal Democrats with a joint ticket to protect welfare spending. I do not know how honorary members feel about the anticipated alliance.”
Badenoch: Tories only party of conservatives
Speaking moments after Mr Kruger announced his defection, Ms Badenoch said: “We are the only party of conservatives who are working on dealing with the government that we have now.
“We want them to live within our means. The economy is in freefall. They don’t know what to do.”
She said Sir Keir Starmer is “facing a political crisis” and the Conservatives are “the only people who are drawing attention to that”.
Labour: Farage has no plan
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Every Conservative who defects to Reform ties Nigel Farage more closely to their record of failure. Nigel Farage can recruit as many failed Tories as he likes – it won’t change the fact that he has no plan for Britain.
“The Tories crashed our economy and left public services crumbling. Britain deserves better than Reform’s Tory tribute act that would leave working people paying a very high price.
“Only this Labour government is driving forwards delivery to make working people better off and give our country the renewal it needs.”
