Danny Kruger
Daniel Rayne Kruger (born 23 October 1974) is a British politician who was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Wiltshire in 2024. Formerly a member of the Conservative Party, he switched to Reform UK in September 2025. Before Boundary changes, Kruger was the member for Devizes from 2019. He is the son of writer and property developer Rayne Kruger, and restaurateur and television presenter Prue Leith. Prior to being an MP, he was Prime Minister David Cameron's chief speechwriter and was chief executive of a youth crime prevention charity called Only Connect.
Quotes
[edit]2005–2007
[edit]- We plan to introduce a period of creative destruction in the public services.
- Comment (first reported by The Guardian) which led to Kruger standing down as the Conservative candidate in Sedgefield (then the constituency of Labour prime minister Tony Blair), as cited in "Tory candidate quits over remark", BBC News (15 March 2005).
On Fraternity : Politics Beyond Liberty & Equality (2007)
[edit]- Civitas: Institute for the Study of Civil Society ISBN 9781903386576
- Liberalism is the philosophy of the individual. Its ethic is liberty and its characteristic is autonomy — the freedom of the will from external constraint. It says "I shall...".
Socialism is the philosophy of the state. Its ethic is equality and its characteristic is coercion — the power, in the last resort, to exert force over individuals and groups. It says "you must...".
Conservatism is the philosophy of society. Its ethic is fraternity and its characteristic is authority — the non-coercive social persuasion which operates in a family or a community. It says "we should..."- "Triangulation", p. 13
- Where the Left imagine social justice to be the realization of certain abstract ideas — equality and emancipation — the Right see it as a system of naturally occurring and beneficial relationships. Social justice is the fulfilment of the individual's need for positive liberty through social membership.
- "Fraternity". p. 52
2023–2024
[edit]- Nihilism has consumed left-liberalism from within, and now animates the corpse. Old socialist principles like the dignity of labour and the solidarity of the working class, and liberal principles like free speech, tolerance and the value of dissent, have given way to a new social justice orthodoxy which admits no dignity or solidarity and brooks no dissent. Yet because it occupies the life-like corpse of liberalism, the new orthodoxy attracts the usual bien-pensant progressives (including some calling themselves conservatives) who think they are still promoting a diverse and tolerant society.
- "Could Sunak be the Tories’ new Pitt the Younger?" The New Statesman (15 April 2023).
- The penny is dropping among people in Westminster that the Government doesn’t run the Government. [...] There's a huge movement going on globally to create essentially a world government that will have power to dictate to national governments what they should do in anticipation of another pandemic.
- Speaking at a joint IEA and Taxpayers' Alliance event (2 October 2023) held at the Conservative Party conference "The Tories are lost to lunatic conspiracy and moral obsolescence (not that Rishi Sunak cares)", i (2 October 2023).
- The Government should immediately announce an intention to do what is necessary to insist on our sovereignty.
That means legislation to override the effect of the w:European Court of Human RightsEuropean court, of the ECHR itself and of other conventions including the Refugee Convention if necessary.- Comments cited by Nina Lloyd in "Tory backbenchers warn Sunak’s future could be decided by Rwanda ruling response", The Standard (15 November 2023).
- Following the ruling of the UK's Supreme Court that the Rwanda asylum plan is unlawful. The policy was scrapped by the incoming Starmer government in July.
- [On the Reform 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.- Comments (22 March 2024) at a party meeting in Salisbury from a leaked recording, as cited in "Reform is right about Tory failings, admits MP Danny Kruger in leaked recordings", The Telegraph (28 March 2024).
2025–present
[edit]- On Bonnie Blue I mean, listen, we'll take votes wherever we can get them. We know we want all the support we can get, quite like Bonnie Blue.
But we, you know, we're not going to be fussy about that. But listen, I mean, you know I'm not going to be judgmental about people who want to vote Reform.- "Reform welcomes porn star Bonnie Blue’s support", The Telegraph (15 December 2025).
- Bonnie Blue (real name Tia Billinger) had contributed an article to The Spectator: "Bonnie Blue: I stand with Nigel Farage".
The Guardian interview (November 2025)
[edit]- Interviewed by Charlotte Edwardes, as cited in "‘America is British’. Heaven is ‘a socialist state’. David Attenborough is ‘anti-human’ – the startling theories of Reform MP Danny Kruger", The Guardian (22 November 2025).
- [On extensive displays of UK and English flags in Home county villages] It reflects the fear and insecurity in society – but it's a legitimate fear and quite a noble statement by ordinary people who believe in their nation and want to proclaim it. The waving of a flag is a pacific way of asserting identity and belonging. Wherever the flag is planted, people – the majority of that community – stand for the values and traditional ideas of our nation. A country in crisis has to lean on its traditional symbols.
- [On flag displays being lifted from US practices] But remember America is British. [Edwardes frowns and asks for confirmation of what he means] Yeah, go on, definitely. Trump, JD [Vance], they all explicitly say, 'We derive our ideas – and certainly our political model and our political culture – from Britain.' And, 'What a shame you guys seem to have so little pride in your own country and your own model.' If you look back to the 18th and 19th century, we were pretty vulgar, too. There's a lot of flag-waving. So partly, Reform is just bringing it back.
- I think that socialism is in heaven. [...] The problem with socialists is they don't accept the fall of man. They try to create heaven on Earth with the assumption that if we somehow just got our institutions or culture right, we could be synonymous beings and all behave nicely to each other. [...] Heaven is a socialist state [...] The effort of socialists is to bring heaven on Earth, with the state in the position of God. That is not a good idea. That's because no state of human beings can be all good or all powerful.
- To me, it's ubiquitous. It's everywhere. It's unavoidable. I mean, I totally get the appeal. But I think it's a problem in our society, how ubiquitous pornography is.
The House interview (February 2026)
[edit]- Interviewed by Sienna Rodgers for The House magazine, as cited in "Danny Kruger: 'If We Don't Win, Or If We Win And Make A Mess Of It, I Fear For Our Country'", PolticsHome (23 February 2026).
- Marriage traditionally was the means by which sexual relations between men and women were regulated, and I think we are suffering from having a totally unregulated sexual economy. [...]
I'm not interested in your love life, or anything about your personal life – that is your business. But I am interested in the framework in which you make your decisions, and I'd like the framework to be more pro-social. If you want – most people do want – to settle down with one person to have children, we should make that easier. - Yes, we have a pronatalist ambition. We want people to have more children, and we think the government should get behind that wish.
- Clearly, Donald Trump is not wildly popular in the UK, and the fact that we have and Nigel [Farage] has a personal friendship with him, might not be advantageous. [...] On the other hand, I think it reflects well on Nigel that he's stood by Donald Trump, including when Trump was down, and that relationship is very, very useful, potentially, to the United Kingdom and to a Reform government. And let's not pretend otherwise: there is a clear affinity of worldview between the Maga movement and Reform.
- The US is a very different place. We don't want to mirror their politics. We don't want to follow everything that the current administration is doing in the UK, far from it. But the US and the Republicans are the best friends this country could have.
- [On a potential ministerial role in a Reform government] I might have screwed up by then. My normal trajectory is to do something catastrophic and blow myself up. So, let's see what I do next.
