Nigel Farage has announced that Danny Kruger has defected to Reform UK.
Mr Kruger, the MP for East Wiltshire, said the Conservative Party is "over" and that while the move is "personally painful," he has been "very proud" at times of being a Tory MP.
The Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions said the Tory party is "over as a national party, over as the principal opposition to the left".
He continued: "I am not despondent because conservatism is not over. It's never been needed more. And actually, it's never been more vibrant. Because the failure of the Conservative Party has created space for an alternative."
He said their time in office has been marked by "failure, bigger Government, social decline, low wages, high taxes, and less of what ordinary people actually wanted".
Mr Kruger previously co-chaired the New Conservatives group in the last parliament alongside Miriam Cates.
In his announcement speech, Mr Kruger said: "The flame is passing from one torch to another. The new torch is already alight, already brighter than the one it is replacing, held aloft in firm and confident hands."
The New Reform MP spoke to GB News' Christopher Hope following his defection from the Tories, where he said: "Firstly, I am feeling pretty conflicted, I have left behind a lot of good friends locally in my associations, some wonderful people who have supported me as a Conservative candidate and activist."
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Nigel Farage has announced that Danny Kruger has defected to Reform UK
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Mr Kruger said he looks forward to meeting the local Reform councillors in East Wiltshire and said it will be a "tough task" to organise the party to be ready for Government.
He said that while in a first-past-the-post system, there can only be one true challenger, and that is Reform.
Kemi Badenoch hit out at Nigel Farage in an interview on GB News, where she said that while they were doing work, he was "in the US telling them that our country's like North Korea".
She added: "I think what this actually shows is there are quite a lot of people who are distracted by Westminster politics than what is going on in our country. Our Prime Minister is having a political crisis, the economy is in freefall, there is only one party that is dealing with this."
Danny Kruger said Reform is 'a Government in waiting' | PAThe Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions was born in Westminster in October 1974 to South African parents.
His mother is the renowned chef and Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith, whilst his father Rayne worked as both an author and property developer.
His stance on Britain's relationship with Europe became clear during the 2016 referendum when he backed leaving the EU.
This position aligned with his later role at the Legatum Institute, a think tank advocating for Brexit, where he served as a senior fellow before moving to government advisory positions in 2018.
Danny Kruger praised Nigel Farage for his 'consistency' | PAMr Kruger first entered Parliament representing the now-defunct Devizes constituency in 2019 with over 63 per cent of votes cast.
His tenure featured several contentious moments, including defending Dominic Cummings during lockdown breach allegations and being photographed without a face covering on public transport, which he dismissed as "simply forgetting".
His social conservative views sparked controversy in May 2023 when he argued that marriage between men and women formed "the only basis for a safe and successful society".
He also stated during a 2022 abortion debate that women don't possess "an absolute right to bodily autonomy".
Kruger has actively campaigned against the assisted dying bill, whilst his mother Prue Leith supports it | GettyRe-elected for East Wiltshire in 2024 with a majority of 4,716, Mr Kruger recently opposed assisted dying legislation before today's defection to Nigel Farage's Reform UK.
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."
Mr Kruger continued: "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."