Conservative leader reacts after senior Conservative switches to insurgent party
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch spoke to Sky News shortly after the defection was announced (Image: SKY NEWS)
Kemi Badenoch insisted she will not be “blown off course” after a senior Tory MP defected to Reform UK. Nigel Farage announced that East Wiltshire MP Danny Kruger had switched to his insurgent party at a press conference this morning.
Reacting to the news, the Conservative leader said the party “is not going to get blown off course by these sorts of incidents”. She said: “Danny has made his case very clear that this is not about me. I can’t be distracted by that and I’m not going to get blown off course by these sorts of incidents. I know that this is the sort of thing that is going to happen while a party is changing. I am making sure that people understand what Conservative values are.”
It comes after Mr Kruger became the first sitting Conservative MP and frontbencher to defect to Reform, where he will head up efforts to prepare for government, in a major blow to Mrs Badenoch.
Describing his move as “personally painful”, Mr Kruger declared his former party was “over”.
He said: “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 voters aren’t coming back, and every day, more and more people are joining them in deserting the party that has failed.”
Danny Kruger has defected to Reform UK (Image: Getty)
He also suggested that it was now “too late” to save the Tories even under a new leader such as Robert Jenrick, whose leadership bid Mr Kruger supported last year.
He also urged his colleagues to join him in Mr Farage’s party, saying: “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.”
Turning to his new job, Mr Kruger said: “Our mission is not just to overthrow the current system, it is to restore the system we need.”
