Be careful what you wish for. Kemi Badenoch says she is turning the Conservative Party back into the traditional, authentic conservatism people recognise and that means taking tough decisions.
"If people don’t like it, they are welcome to leave," she warned.
Danny Kruger said, "The Conservative Party is over as a national party, over as the opposition to the Left."
That is the cry from Danny Kruger MP, a shadow Tory minister who has sensationally defected to Reform UK today, the first sitting MP to do so, little more than a year after the general election.
Alex Armstrong shared his views on the defection
|GB NEWS
Mr Kruger is the son of Prue Leith, the baking queen from The Great British Bake Off. But don’t let the scones fool you, he’s baked his own path in politics.
Educated at Eton and Oxford, he served as a speechwriter and political secretary to Boris Johnson during his time as London mayor and later in No10.
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Elected as a Conservative MP in 2019, now for the redrawn seat of Wiltshire East, he has been a vocal social conservative, championing family values, faith, and a hard-line stance on issues such as abortion and immigration.
A devout Christian, he co-founded the New Conservatives group, pushing for a return to traditional Tory principles amid the party’s post-Brexit identity crisis.
Here he is speaking in Parliament earlier this year: "A new restoration is needed now. Revival of the faith. The recovery of Christian politics. A refounding of this nation on the teachings that Alfred made the basis of the common law of England all those centuries ago.
"This is a mission for the Church under its next leader, whoever that is. It’s a mission for this place, this old chapel, which became the wellspring of Western democracy.
"And for us, its members. And it’s a mission for our whole country: the roots to a prosperous modernity founded on respect for human dignity, responsibility for the created world and the worship of God."
Mr Kruger seemed like the kind of MP Badenoch would want to keep. After the Conservatives’ humiliating defeat in the 2024 General Election, she emerged as the new leader, promising to steer the party back to its roots. But tensions have simmered.
Only last week, Ms Badenoch appeared to seal her own fate when she said: "If you don’t like my leadership, then leave."
Bold words and almost prophetic. Today, Mr Kruger became the first Tory MP to take that advice and bolt to Reform.
He has been heavily rewarded, appointed to lead Reform’s preparation-for-Government unit, tasked with getting the party ready for power.
Danny Kruger spoke to GB News following his defection to Reform UK | GB NEWSYet in Mr Kruger’s own seat, Reform UK are leading the Conservatives by seven points. Is he jumping before he’s pushed? And many are now asking an even louder question: how many more Tories will Reform UK accept? Nigel Farage must strike a careful balance. He needs Tories who know the corridors of power in Whitehall, but he must also avoid turning Reform into "the Tory Party 2.0".
Which brings us back to the big question: is the Tory Party now dead , buried under the weight of infighting, scandal, and electoral collapse?
Once the national party of Government, it is now reduced to a rump of 121 MPs, polling at just 17 per cent, while Reform UK snaps at its heels with five seats and ambitions for many more.
Is this simply symptomatic of Kemi Badenoch’s slow-and-steady leadership criticised by many as lacklustre, with Prime Minister’s Questions performances cited as proof?
Reform UK clearly wants to position itself as the true heir to Thatcherism on the Conservative right. And with Ms Kruger gone and whispers of more to follow, is Ms Badenoch already finished? Is it time to let the Conservative Party die?