Conservative MP Danny Kruger has become the latest Tory to defect to Reform UK.
The Devizes MP has been made head of Reform's new unit preparing the party for government, Nigel Farage announced on stage at a news conference.
Announcing his defection, Mr Kruger said: "The Conservative Party is over, over as a national party, over as the principal opposition to the left.
"But I am not despondent because conservatism is not over. It's never been needed more. And actually, it's never been more vibrant.
"Because the failure of the Conservative Party has created space for an alternative. The flame is passing from one torch to another."
He told Sky News political correspondent Liz Bates: "I don't think the Conservative Party is dead. It's just over as the official opposition."
Mr Kruger, who is TV chef Prue Leith's son, said he has been a Conservative activist and MP for more than 20 years, but he does not believe the "divided, discredited Conservative Party" can unite to win power and "deliver the change that is needed".
He revealed he started to think about defecting when Lee Anderson, a Tory MP who became an independent, moved to Reform in June 2024.
Mr Kruger said it was "fair enough" to be questioned about how he, as an Eton and Oxford graduate, can understand the British people but pointed to the charity he founded working in prisons to stop re-offending.
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