Overview

• Announcing his switch at a Westminster press conference, the East Wiltshire MP declared the Conservative Party "over" as a national force and as the principal opposition.
• Nigel Farage appointed Kruger to lead Reform’s new unit preparing for government, restoring the party’s parliamentary tally to five MPs.
• Kruger said he discussed the move over the summer and informed Conservative chief whip Rebecca Harris this morning rather than notifying leader Kemi Badenoch.
• Badenoch said she would not be "blown off course" as local Conservative officials urged Kruger to call a by-election, which he indicated he would not trigger.
• A former shadow work and pensions minister who had questioned Reform’s spending stance, Kruger said welfare reform pledges and detailed planning changed his view, while Labour argued the defection ties Farage to Tory failures.