Preparing Farage for Power: Danny Kruger on defecting to Reform UK
Political Thinking with Nick Robinson
BBC
4.6 • 2.5K Ratings
🗓️ 26 September 2025
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Danny Kruger had been at the heart of the Conservative Party since it was led by David Cameron, until he decided that party was "over".
He is now a Reform UK MP and has been tasked with preparing the party for government.
He sits down with Nick to explain why we need a "revival" of Christian conservatism.
Producer: Daniel Kraemer Reserach: Chloe Desave Sound: Ged Sudlow and Hal Haines Editor: Giles Edwards
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | Hello and welcome to political thinking. The Conservative Party is over, over as a national party, over as the principal opposition to the left. |
| 0:16.6 | With those words, my guest this week on political thinking, abandoned the party he'd been in all his life |
| 0:21.8 | and joined Nigel Farage's Reform UK instead. |
| 0:26.2 | Danny Kruger was not just the only serving Conservative MP |
| 0:29.0 | to have switched sides, |
| 0:31.3 | he was also the only Tory to defect with more of a future than a past, |
| 0:36.7 | having been speechwriter to one Conservative leader, David Cameron, and political secretary to another, Boris Johnson, he was seen as the next generation of Conservative leadership. |
| 0:49.3 | There's one other thing which makes him unique. He's an ideas man who published a book arguing for |
| 0:55.4 | the revival of religion, Christianity, in order to roll back the ideas which he says are |
| 1:01.5 | undermining families, neighbourhoods and the country. Daddy Krueger, welcome to political thinking. |
| 1:08.5 | Thank you, New. You have only just defected from a party you've been in, what, two decades? |
| 1:14.9 | How are you feeling now? |
| 1:16.7 | Is it painful? |
| 1:18.1 | Is it remorseful? |
| 1:19.7 | Are you excited? |
| 1:21.2 | All of those things. |
| 1:22.5 | It was painful, it is painful, and it was very painful on the day I did it. |
| 1:25.9 | It was not an enjoyable experience. |
| 1:27.8 | Don't recommend it if you're trying to have a good day to leave the party of, |
| 1:33.1 | more like 30 years. |
| 1:34.2 | I mean, as a student, I went to the Conservative Party Scottish conference. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.