Why Danny Kruger’s defection to Reform matters
Coffee House Shots
The Spectator
4.4 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 15 September 2025
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The big news in Westminster today is that there has been another defection to Reform. But this time it feels slightly different: a front bench Tory with a CV that spans multiple Tory leaders and a number of books on Conservative thought is now batting for Reform.
Danny Kruger, Nigel Farage’s latest defector, served as David Cameron’s speechwriter, Boris Johnson’s political secretary and Robert Jenrick’s campaign manager just last summer. His defection will therefore come as a serious blow to those who argue that the Conservative party stands a better chance than Reform of winning the next election.
Kruger told the room that he believes Reform now stands the best chance of saving the country at the time of the next election and that his former Tory party was ‘finished as the main opposition to the left’. His argument is that Reform is the ‘new home’ of conservatism. Where does this leave Kemi Badenoch? And will his defection open up the floodgates for more to follow?
Oscar Edmondson speaks to James Heale and Lucy Dunn.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
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Transcript
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| 0:46.1 | Hello and welcome to Coffee House Shots, the spectator's daily politics podcast. I'm Oscar Edmondson, |
| 0:51.4 | I'm joined today by James Heel and Lucy Dunn. And the big news today in Westminster |
| 0:55.7 | is that there's been another defection to reform. James, who is it and why should we care? |
| 1:01.2 | It is the MP for East Wilshire, Danny Kruger, who is a big figure within the Conservative Party |
| 1:06.2 | because of his intelligent and thoughtful conservatism. He's on the right of the party. He's had a number of |
| 1:13.2 | senior jobs of varying types under different leaders. So he was David Cameron speechwriter. |
| 1:18.6 | Infamously wrote part of the speech, which led to the phrase Hugga hoodie. He was Boris Johnson's |
| 1:22.9 | political secretary during the difficult Brexit days of 2019 before the election. Most recently, he has been |
| 1:28.3 | Robert Jemrick's campaign manager. And so his move today is significant, I think, for three reasons. |
| 1:32.9 | Number one of which it shows that reform are serious. They don't just take frivolous characters. |
| 1:36.8 | This is someone who is very thoughtful, written several books on conservative thought, |
| 1:40.3 | who has been really leading the charge against sister dying in parliament and is a formidable |
| 1:45.0 | operator. So it shows that they're serious. Number two, the shock waded it'll unleash within the |
| 1:48.7 | Conservative Party. There was some expectation that were there to be a future contest for Robert |
... |
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