'Last hope' Kruger quits Tory party to defect to Reform UK

The MP Danny Kruger has defected from the Conservatives to Reform UK, declaring the Tory party "is over" and Nigel Farage is the "new custodian" of conservatism and the political right's "last hope" of governing Britain.

- Aletha Adu

Kruger, who represents East Wiltshire and previously served as political secretary to Boris Johnson, said: "The Conservative party is over. Over as a national party, over as the principal opposition to the left."

His defection comes weeks after the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, said that party members who "want to jump ship" to Reform UK are "welcome to do so".

In a statement announcing his switch, Kruger accused the Tories of clinging to "defunct institutions", and said they have been operating under "sham unity" since their general election defeat last year which has left them in "stasis".

He said: "We on the right of politics face a choice. To embrace the change that is happening or to go down to a deserved demise. To follow the flame of conservatism as it passes to a new torch or to stand still and get darker and colder and more pointless.