Tories ‘over’, claims West MP defecting to Reform

DANNY Kruger has become the first sitting Conservative MP to defect to Reform UK and at the same time become the party's first MP in the West.

- CHRISTOPHER MCKEON

The East Wiltshire MP's defection was unveiled at a press conference yesterday, where Nigel Farage said Mr Kruger would head up Reform’s efforts to prepare for Government.

Describing his move as “personally painful” Mr Kruger condemned his former party as “over”.

He said: “We have had a year of stasis and drift and the sham unity that comes from not doing anything bold or difficult or controversial and the result is in the polls.

“And those voters aren’t coming back, and every day, more and more people are joining them in deserting the party that has failed”

The East Wiltshire seat covers Marlborough, parts of suburban South Swindon, rural Wiltshire and towns on the edge of Salisbury Plain military training area such ‘as Tidworth and Durrington.

Mr Kruger’s defection marks a major blow for Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, as both the first sitting Tory MP to join Reform and a member of the shadow front bench.

But he went further than merely criticising Mrs Badenoch’s leadership, suggesting that it was now “too late” to save the party even under a new leader such as Robert Jenrick, whose bid for the party leadership Mr Kruger supported last year.

He told the press conference he had been in discussions with Reform about defecting over the summer, but had not spoken to Mrs Badenoch beforehand, instead informing Conservative chief whip Rebecca Harris yesterday morning.