No apology from MP who 'jumped ship' to Reform

Danny Kruger says the Conservative Party was "rightly and naturally punished" at the 2024 general election

A former Conservative MP who defected to Reform UK has explained his reasons for doing so but stopped short of apologising to his constituents.

East Wiltshire MP Danny Kruger became the first sitting Conservative MP to defect to the party last month and has now written to his 71,000-strong electorate to explain why.

He explained he had "jumped ship" because of what he claimed were Tory "failures" on issues such as mass migration and Brexit, which he believes led to a loss of confidence in the party.

The Conservative Party has been contacted for comment on Mr Kruger's claims.

Mr Kruger said his former party was "rightly and naturally punished for its record" at the 2024 election in the letter, which was sent to every constituency household.

He said: "I was elected in 2019 to 'get Brexit done' and then – as Boris always stressed – to move beyond Brexit and fix the underlying problems with our country.

"We did the Brexit bit, but then we failed. Most of all, we failed to control our borders and reduce taxes as we had promised.

"Many of our communities have experienced huge and unwelcome change due to mass migration."

He further described his unhappiness at the armed forces being "hollowed out", the "highly precarious" nature of the economy, and said public services were "at the brink of collapse", despite spending increases.

Following his defection, Mr Kruger was criticised for not calling a by-election by both the leader of the Conservatives on Wiltshire Council, Richard Clewer, and Melksham and Devizes Conservative Association chair Brian Burchfield.

Mr Burchfield said Mr Kruger's constituents "deserve the opportunity to choose their Member of Parliament based on the party they stood for at election – not one they've opted to switch to mid-term".

The BBC has contacted the national Conservative Party and also Mr Kruger's local association for comment.