Reform is right about Tory party failings, top MP says
THE leader of a Right-wing Tory faction has admitted that the criticisms of his party from Reform are “mostly valid”.
Danny Kruger, the co-chairman of the New Conservatives group of MPS, told party members that the Tories were “not a very conservative party in lots of ways”.
In recordings heard by The Telegraph, Mr Kruger said Reform, the party of Richard Tice and Nigel Farage, has been “absolutely killing” the Tories and that he was “very, very worried” about its increasing support. He also joked that the Conservative Party brand had become “somewhat tarnished” and suggested that his re-election campaign locally would focus on individual strengths.
The comments from Mr Kruger, the Tory MP for Devizes, came at a gathering of local party members in Salisbury last Friday night.
He called Reform a “destructive force” and not “honest”, saying those who backed their views should focus on changing the Tories instead. But the private acknowledgement that Reform’s message has merit is in stark contrast to official Tory party messaging.
At the event, according to the leaked audio, Mr Kruger was asked about Reform and whether the Tories should work with them. He responded: “I don’t think there’s any chance of working together [with Reform] because they’ve ruled that out very, very recently and publicly, and I think genuinely their ambition is to replace us. They want to destroy the Conservative Party.
“They think the obstacle to Conservatism is the Conservative Party. And I kind of get what they’re saying. Because in many ways it is, we’re not a very conservative party in lots of ways. But I don’t agree with them. I think the answer to the Conservative Party’s problems is to change the Conservative Party and to make it better, which is what we’re trying to do.
“But I am sympathetic to their general critique. I don’t really believe in them, I don’t really like them, to be honest. I don’t think they stand for genuine conservative ideas, I think they’re just a destructive force. I think it will be a tragedy if they did end up replacing us. But their general critique of what’s wrong, I think, is mostly valid. And the people who are attracted to them, I understand why and we have to have major respect for them, not insult them.”
This week, Reform, which is positioned to the Right of the Tories and used to be called the Brexit Party, polled at 16 per cent in a Yougov survey, its highest recorded level of support.
Reform’s backing in polls has approximately doubled in the past year. The party is outflanking the Tories with calls for major tax cuts, a much tighter immigration policy and other Rightwing policy positions.
Its popularity has led some Tory supporters to speculate whether a deal should be made between the parties,
something both leaders have rejected.
Reform’s polling surge has led to nervousness among Tory MPS that it could make their re-elections harder, since their rivals’ support is being fuelled by Tory voters switching sides.
A Yougov poll earlier this month showed that Reform had overtaken the Tories in support among male voters, suggesting the Tory campaigning against Reform is struggling to cut through. The Tory leadership has repeatedly insisted that Reform’s proposals are unrealistic and unaffordable.
At another point in the gathering, Mr Kruger is asked about the surge in support for Reform and whether Conservatives should be worried about it eating into the Tory vote share.
Mr Kruger responded: “Yes. Yes, we should. I am very worried about that. Very, very worried about that.”
Asked what can be done, Mr Kruger said: “Well, I mean, bluntly, we need to take the voters back because those voters voted Conservative last time, overwhelmingly – obviously some, not all. But they are at now, in some polls, 15 per cent and we’re like at 19 per cent. So I mean, they are absolutely killing us.”
Mr Kruger runs the New Conservatives, a grouping of Tory MPS pushing for more Right-wing policies, with his parliamentary colleague Miriam Cates.
He is a former political secretary to Boris Johnson and has been sounding the alarm about the state of the party in recent months, though not in such explicit terms as in his meeting with members.
Elsewhere in the meeting, Mr Kruger expressed frustration that Lee Anderson, the former Tory vice-chairman who had been in the New Conservatives, was allowed to defect to Reform.
Mr Kruger said: “So, I’m a friend of Lee Anderson who defected to them. He was in my faction. And I regret… I think it’s our party’s fault that we lost him. I mean he’s to blame as well, obviously, I wouldn’t have done it. But we shouldn’t have let him go. We should have held on to him. And we need to get people who vote like that back.”
Mr Kruger was approached for comment.