By Sarah Young and Andrew Macaskill

Danny Kruger and Miriam Cates, accompanied by other members of the New Conservatives, leave 10 Downing Street in London, Britain, December 12, 2023. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

LONDON, Sept 15 (Reuters) – A leading Conservative politician on Monday became the first sitting member of parliament to abandon Britain’s main centre-right party for the anti-immigrant Reform UK, now leading in opinion polls.

Speaking at a press conference alongside Reform leader Nigel Farage, Danny Kruger said leaving behind friends was painful, but: “This is my tragic conclusion: the Conservative Party is over, over as a national party, over as the principal opposition.”

With the defection, Reform still has only five seats in parliament, despite polls showing it surging into first place in popularity as Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party has lost support a year after sweeping to power.

Kruger, a former aide to prime ministers Boris Johnson and David Cameron, had served as welfare spokesperson in the “shadow cabinet” maintained by the Conservatives as Britain’s official opposition.

The Conservatives are Britain’s oldest and most successful political party, in power more often than not for centuries, including 32 of the last 46 years.

They suffered a heavy defeat in last year’s national election and have since fallen further in the polls, while approval ratings of Starmer’s Labour Party have collapsed following political mistakes and weak economic growth.

At least a dozen prominent Conservatives have joined Reform, though Kruger is the first to do so while still sitting as a lawmaker since last year’s election.

NIGEL FARAGE THE BENEFICIARY

Farage, a veteran political disrupter who gained international prominence campaigning for Brexit, has been the main beneficiary of the collapse in support for Starmer’s government. He said Kruger had approached him.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she was not going to get “blown off course” by the defection. “I know that this is the sort of thing that is going to happen while a party is changing,” she told Sky News.

Labour, which won one of the largest election victories in modern history, has faced some of its most difficult weeks in power after the forced departures of deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and U.S. ambassador Peter Mandelson this month.

Starmer lost a third senior ally on Monday after leaked messages revealed he had made explicit sexual comments about the veteran left-wing politician Diane Abbott.

Paul Ovenden, Starmer’s director of strategy, resigned after the messages were published. A spokesperson for Starmer said: “These messages are appalling and unacceptable.”

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