Christian Conservative MP Danny Kruger has quit the party to join Reform UK, making him the first sitting Tory MP to move directly across.
Kruger, who represents East Wiltshire and has served in Parliament since 2019, was part of Kemi Badenoch’s frontbench team as shadow work and pensions minister.
He previously worked as political secretary to Boris Johnson during his premiership.
Announcing his decision at a press conference alongside Reform leader Nigel Farage, Kruger declared: “The Conservatives are over.”
He added that he was “honoured” to be invited to help Reform prepare for government and expressed his hope that Farage would become the next prime minister.
Reflecting on his time with the Conservatives, Kruger said: “There have been moments when I have been very proud to belong to the Tory party,” but added: “The rule of our time in office was failure. Bigger government, social decline, lower wages, higher taxes and less of what ordinary people actually wanted.”
While praising Badenoch personally, he described the Tory brand as “toxic” and the party itself as “divided.”
He admitted the decision was “personally painful", but said his new “mission” was “not just to overthrow the current system, it is to restore the system we need.”
Kemi Badenoch, Leader of the Conservative Party, spoke to Sky News just after the announcement. She said the party "is not going to get blown off course by these sorts of incidents''.
She added: "My response is that we are the only party who are working on dealing with the Government we have now...we are focused on our national interest and in making sure we can get our economy going."