PRESSURE is mounting on a Wiltshire MP after his defection from the Conservatives to Reform UK made national headlines.

East Wiltshire MP Danny Kruger, who sat on Tory leader Kemi Badenoch’s team as a shadow work and pensions minister, announced his decision to join Nigel Farage’s party on Monday (September 15), a move that garnered criticism from some in his constituency as he said he would not trigger a by-election.

He became the first sitting Conservative MP to join Reform.

Kruger, the son of Great British Bake Off’s Prue Leith, has been a Conservative MP since 2019 and kept his seat at the General Election last year despite a significant drop in vote share.

The Eton educated politician wrote in The Telegraph that he believes the Conservative Party is “over” and that he hoped the Tories would learn “the obvious lesson”.

“The old ways don’t work; centrism is not enough; real change is needed,” he wrote. “Instead we’ve had a year of stasis and drift and the sham unity that comes from not doing anything bold or difficult or controversial.

“The result is in the polls. Those lost voters aren’t coming back. And every day more and more people are joining them in deserting the party that has failed.

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“This is a cause of regret for those of us who have put our trust in the Conservative Party for so long.”

A “big risk”

He described the move to Reform UK as a “big risk” – partly because his seat is “not a Reform target”.

“I don’t accept I’m jumping ship to save my skin, in fact I’m taking a very significant personal risk here,” he said.

Now, some of his constituents in Devizes have questioned his decision-making and have called for him to resign.

A petition, signed 1,909 times, says Kruger’s defection and change in allegiance raises “essential questions about the validity of his current mandate to represent the people of East Wiltshire under his new party banner.”

“When we cast our votes in the last election, we voted for a representative who was aligned with the values and manifesto of the Conservative Party,” the petition reads.

“Danny Kruger’s defection to the Reform Party signifies a fundamental shift in his political stance and obligations, which were not part of what the electorate in East Wiltshire endorsed.

“Such a significant change in political direction necessitates a re-examination of his mandate through a by-election, allowing the constituents to either affirm or reject his continued representation.”

To view and sign the petition, visit www.change.org/p/urge-danny-kruger-to-resign-for-by-election-in-east-wiltshire