{"id":138733,"date":"2025-09-15T11:12:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T11:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/138733\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T11:12:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T11:12:07","slug":"tory-mp-danny-kruger-defects-to-nigel-farages-reform-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/138733\/","title":{"rendered":"Tory MP Danny Kruger defects to Nigel Farage\u2019s Reform \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Kruger had previously worked as Boris Johnson\u2019s political secretary from July to December 2019, and as a speechwriter to former Conservative leader David Cameron \u2013 famously writing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spectator.co.uk\/article\/i-wrote-hug-a-hoodie-and-i-m-proud-of-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the controversial \u201cHug a Hoodie\u201d <\/a>speech before Cameron became prime minister in 2010. <\/p>\n<p>At a press conference on Monday, he said:  \u201cthe flame [of conservatism] is passing from one torch to another,\u201d\u00a0adding that \u201cwhile the torch is different, the flame is the same.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2235030515-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7162494\"  \/>Danny Kruger announces his defection from the Conservatives to Reform UK at a press conference hosted by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. | Dan Kitwood\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Reform, he suggested, embodied that the \u201cnew torch is already alight, already brighter than the one it is replacing, held aloft in firm and confident hands.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He condemned the Conservative\u2019s 14 years in office, stating: \u201cThe rule of our time in office was failure. Bigger government, social decline, low wages, high taxes and less of what ordinary people actually wanted.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The former shadow work and pensions minister is the first sitting Tory MP to defect since last July\u2019s general election, following a string of former Tory MPs joining the party.<\/p>\n<p>Kruger claimed that since the Conservative\u2019s general election defeat last year, \u201cwe have had a year of stasis and drift and the sham unity that comes from not doing anything bold or difficult or controversial.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Tory Leader Kemi Badenoch has come under repeated criticism since becoming Tory leader, as her party continues to languish in the polls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kruger had previously worked as Boris Johnson\u2019s political secretary from July to December 2019, and as a speechwriter&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[824,625,64669,9608,8926,461,59,57,58,12174,50,633,423,4178,470,56,54,55,637],"class_list":{"0":"post-138733","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-boris-johnson","9":"tag-british-politics","10":"tag-danny-kruger","11":"tag-david-cameron","12":"tag-department","13":"tag-elections","14":"tag-gb","15":"tag-great-britain","16":"tag-greatbritain","17":"tag-kemi-badenoch","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-nigel-farage","20":"tag-parliament","21":"tag-pensions","22":"tag-rights","23":"tag-uk","24":"tag-united-kingdom","25":"tag-unitedkingdom","26":"tag-westminster-bubble"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}