Danny Kruger has encouraged Kemi Badenoch and the Conservative Party to "get behind Nigel Farage" after Robert Jenrick's shock defection.
Mr Kruger was elected as Conservative MP but defected to Reform UK in September 2025.
Speaking to GB News, he said: "I have great sympathy with Kemi and with the colleagues that we both left behind. But I'm afraid they should do the same thing.
"They need to recognise that the Conservative Party cannot deliver conservatism. It cannot deliver the sort of change that we on the right of politics or believe in. Nigel Farage can."
He added: "It's painful to leave one tribe that you've worked with for many years and join another.
"But you do have to, in this game, I believe, try and think what we're really here for, which is to serve our constituents in the country.
"And when you've concluded that the group you're with cannot do that through a combination of historic faults and the current inability to connect with the country, then the only thing to do if there is a is an alternative is to move to that new party, which Robert and I have both done."
The defection came just hours after Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch dismissed Mr Jenrick from his position as Shadow Justice Secretary, simultaneously removing the party whip and suspending his membership.
Danny Kruger said that Kemi should defect to Reform UK
|GB NEWS
Mrs Badenoch said she had been presented with "clear, irrefutable evidence that he was plotting in secret to defect in a way designed to be as damaging as possible to his shadow cabinet colleagues and the wider Conservative Party".
The timing proved chaotic, with the Tories releasing extracts of what they claimed was Jenrick's planned defection speech moments before a Reform press conference began.
At the Westminster press conference, Jenrick launched a fierce assault on his former party, accusing the Conservatives of lacking "the stomach for the radical change this country needs."
"I can't kid myself any more. The party hasn't changed and it won't," he declared.
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"That the Conservative Party needed to change fundamentally - starting by acknowledging the state of Britain and owning up to the role we played in getting in there. I respect Kemi – but on all these issues, we were in different places."
He finish off he said: "The two main parties have ignored and almost locked out of politics.
"For all these reasons, today, I am proud to join the more than two hundred and seventy thousand people who are members of Reform UK.
"To back Nigel. Join this incredible movement. A national movement that will pool Britain's talents, experience and expertise put previous differences to one side and deliver the real change we need.
Robert Jenrick has left Kemi Badenoch's party and defected to Reform
| GETTY"Turn around our country. At this hour, with Britain on the brink in real danger that is what we must do. If you agree with this don't sit on the sidelines. Britain is broken. Britain needs Reform And Reform needs you."
Kemi Badenoch has dismissed fears of further defections, insisting the Conservative Party remains a “strong, united team.”
Speaking about Robert Jenrick’s move to Reform UK, she said he “simply wasn’t a team player” and added: “We are stronger since he left.”
Mrs Badenoch accused Reform of being self-focused, saying only the Conservatives are tackling the issues that matter. “People are sick and tired of psychodrama… They want to know how their lives are going to be better,” she said.
She sent a clear warning to anyone considering a defection, noting that Nigel Farage is “doing my spring cleaning for me.”
Mrs Badenoch added she is delighted that “chaos is leaving the Conservative Party.”