Reform’s anti-net-zero defector used to praise net zero

The switch from the Tories to Reform isn’t the only big change made recently by Danny Kruger.

The East Wiltshire MP, who defected on September 15, explained the decision a few days later with a Telegraph article in which he called for “an end to the madness of net zero”. Kruger also said he wanted “ large-scale reindustrialisation” and “an industrial policy to deregulate enterprise and supply the essentials – affordable energy, most of all”.

This would have been music to the ears of his new bosses, Reform’s Nigel Farage and Richard Tice, both fans of fracking and fossil fuels. And it would have come as a surprise to those who remember a time not so long ago when Kruger seemed to have completely the opposite view.

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In (now-deleted) articles on his website from 2023 and 2020, Kruger had lauded the UK’s climate policies. He called climate change “one of the greatest challenges we face”, warned that “the threat of global warming has never been more apparent” and praised government climate action for “protecting our planet for centuries to come”.

Research by the DeSmog website shows Kruger also wrote that he was “proud” that the UK was one of the first to pass a net zero target into law, praised the cutting of emissions, and noted “the huge benefits of the green economy”.It is not known when the articles published in 2020 and 2023 disappeared from view – Kruger’s entire site now redirects to his parliamentary webpage – and the MP has not responded to DeSmog’s question about whether they were intentionally deleted.

Despite his previous views, Kruger sits on the advisory board of ARC, a global conservative network that has ties to far right politicians and prominent climate change deniers. In 2023, it received £1million in funding from GB News’s key backer Paul Marshall, who pays Farage almost £400,000 per year for his shows on the channel and also owns the Spectator magazine.