Conservative MP Danny Kruger has defected to Reform UK in a huge blow to Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.
The shadow work and pensions minister and MP for East Wiltshire said, “the Conservative party is over” as he announced he would be joining Nigel Farage to help “prepare” Reform for government.
In a press conference in Mayfair on Monday, he said: "I hoped after our defeat last year that the Conservative Party would learn the obvious lesson, that the old ways don't work, that centrism is not enough, that real change is needed.
"But no. 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 lost voters aren't coming back, and every day, more and more people are joining them in deserting a party that has failed.
"And so this is my tragic conclusion: the Conservative Party is over, over as a national party, over as the principal opposition to the left."
Mr Kruger, the son of writer and property developer Rayne Kruger and Bake Off presenter Prue Leith, described his defection as "personally painful".
He added that Reform’s “mission is not just to overthrow the current system, it is to restore the system we need”.
It comes as both the Tories and Labour trail Mr Farage's Reform in opinion polls and have lost a large number of council by-elections in the last year.
Mr Kruger has been a member of the Tory party for decades. He worked as David Cameron's chief speechwriter in 2006, when the former Prime Minister was the Leader of the Opposition.
Between August and December 2019, he was then Prime Minister Boris Johnson's political secretary and first became an MP at the 2019 general election.
He helped co-found youth crime prevention charity Only Connect, receiving an MBE in 2017 for his charity work.
Mr Kruger added that he has "no idea" whether other Conservatives MPs are in talks with Reform about defecting , but said he hopes his former colleagues "follow me".
"I would hope that colleagues who share my view about the crisis the country is in and the opportunity that Reform offers to save our country,” he said.
"In terms of what conversations are under way, I have absolutely no idea, and that is best left to the leader."
Responding, Mr Farage said: "We keep everything under wraps. When we have negotiations, nothing leaks.
"None of you had a clue that Danny would be joining us today, and that is how we operate."
A Labour Party spokesperson, responding to Mr Kruger’s defection, 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."
