Overview

• At a Westminster press conference, Nigel Farage unveiled East Wiltshire MP Danny Kruger as Reform’s first sitting Conservative defector of this parliament, with Kruger declaring “the Conservative Party is over.”
• Kruger was appointed to head Reform’s new unit preparing for government, presented by the party as a push to professionalise policy and readiness for office.
• The move raises Reform’s Commons tally to five MPs and further pressures Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives, which she said will not be knocked off course by such incidents.
• Local Conservative figures and constituents called for Kruger to trigger a by‑election; he said he informed the chief whip before announcing and plans to continue serving without a contest.
• Farage indicated more Tory defections may follow, while critics noted Kruger had previously dismissed Reform before shifting his position.