Fears of a Conservative exodus are growing within the party after one of its key thinkers quit to join Reform UK.
Danny Kruger, the son of Bake Off host Dame Prue Leith, yesterday became the first sitting Tory MP to defect to Nigel Farage's side.
The front bencher admitted it was 'personally painful' for him to leave the Conservatives after 20 years but said he had concluded they were 'over' as the main opposition party.
And Mr Kruger insisted that conservatism itself was more 'vibrant' than ever as the flame had been passed to Reform, where he will lead a Preparing for Government Unit.
His departure is a damaging blow to Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, whose strategy he has described as to 'disappear from public view'.
