East Wiltshire.

Defecting from the Conservative Party to Reform UK in September 2025 -- becoming the first sitting Tory MP to do so -- Danny Kruger generated the biggest political story of his parliamentary career, and not entirely on his own terms. A petition calling for a by-election followed within days, and coverage from the BBC, Sky News and the New Statesman framed his move as a breach of the mandate East Wiltshire voters gave him in 2019. He has not triggered a by-election. Since joining Reform, he votes with the party 99% of the time, though he has broken ranks on three occasions: opposing new restrictions on foreign ownership of newspapers, voting against a Liberal Democrat policing amendment his party backed, and supporting an amendment critics said would weaken environmental protections in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

His participation rate -- 57% of votes -- sits below the Commons average, though speech volume is substantial: 790 contributions across 114 debates, with social care, health and defence dominating. His stance profile marks him as strongly anti-tax (92% aligned), pro-business (90%) and a consistent defender of Lords scrutiny (100%), which shows up in repeated votes siding with Lords amendments against the government on pensions mandation powers and crime legislation. He deviates from his Reform colleagues most sharply on criminal justice reform, where he scores 80% against the party's 29% -- suggesting a more reformist position on how the justice system operates.

Before defecting, Kruger served as a Conservative frontbencher and shadow minister. He holds no committee seats. His speech activity signals genuine specialist interest in social care and health policy. Local news coverage over the past 90 days -- 102 articles -- centres on culture, crime and transport rather than his parliamentary work, and runs broadly neutral in tone. No voting data predating his Reform membership is included in this briefing.