“We need large-scale reindustrialisation and an end to the madness of net zero,” said East Wiltshire MP Danny Kruger, Reform UK’s latest defector from the Conservative Party, in The Telegraph on 21 September.

In the piece, Kruger also called for “an industrial policy to deregulate enterprise and supply the essentials – affordable energy, most of all”. These words reflect Reform’s repeated statements in favour of more oil and gas extraction, even despite the high household costs of fossil fuels. 

Kruger’s attack on net zero “madness” is in keeping with his new party’s position, which is to junk the UK’s climate policies and “drill baby drill” for fossil fuels. 

But Kruger – who will reportedly lead a department “preparing Reform for government” – was not always aligned with his new party’s anti-climate positions. 

A version of this story was published by the New World.

In articles on his website unearthed by DeSmog, the former Tory called climate change “one of the greatest challenges we face”, warned of “the threat from global warming”, and praised government climate action for “protecting our planet for centuries to come”.

Kruger also wrote that the UK is “on track” to reach net zero emissions by 2050, said he is “proud” that our country was one of the first to pass a net zero target into law, praised the government for cutting emissions, and noted “the huge benefits of the green economy”.

The articles published in 2020 and 2023 are currently offline, with Kruger’s entire website redirecting to his parliamentary webpage, but they are available in archived form.

“Reform UK defector Danny Kruger is confused about many things, but the revelation that as recently as 2023 he was backing serious action to tackle the climate crisis puts him sharply at odds with his new climate-change denying colleagues,” said Green Party MP Carla Denyer. “This seems to suggest that Kruger’s political opinions are set not by evidence, or even by public opinion, but by what he thinks can attract him the most attention”.

Deleted Pro-Climate Articles

In an article published in January 2020, Kruger wrote that “Climate change is one of the greatest challenges we face, and I can assure you that I recognise the importance and urgency of action on this issue. Indeed, the threat of global warming has never been more apparent, as highlighted by the sobering conclusions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s special report on global warming of 1.5C.”

He added: “I am proud of the UK’s world-leading role in tackling climate change and the transition to clean growth, with the UK being the first country to legislate to eliminate our contribution to climate change by 2050.”

The latter is a reference to the UK’s 2050 net zero target, passed into law in 2019 by the Conservative government and which Reform has pledged to repeal. 

Kruger concluded: “Ultimately, I am assured that under this government’s leadership, action will be taken so that future generations will look back on climate change as a problem that was solved with the UK leading from the front, protecting our planet for centuries to come.”

This is in stark contrast to the views of Reform’s leaders, who have repeatedly denied the science of climate change. 

In February, deputy leader Richard Tice MP told Sky News: “There’s no evidence that man-made CO2 is going to change the climate. Given that it’s gone on for millions of years, it will go on for millions of years.” Tice has also claimed that “CO2 is not poison; it’s plant food”.

Party leader Nigel Farage has repeatedly blamed climate change on “sunspot activity” and “underwater volcanoes” – false claims that have long been debunked by experts. At the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference in February, he said it was “absolutely nuts” for CO2 to be considered a pollutant. 

In July, Reform’s mayor for Greater Lincolnshire, former Tory minister Andrea Jenkyns, said in an interview with Times Radio: “Do I believe that climate change exists? No.”

‘On Track’ for Net Zero

In an October 2023 article, Kruger welcomed the Tory government’s delays to several net zero policies, including on phasing out petrol cars and gas boilers, “to ease the burden on working people”. But he insisted on the importance of the green transition, and celebrated the UK’s progress towards its net zero target. 

“The UK remains on track to hit the target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050”, he wrote. “The UK has cut emissions faster than any other G7 country, with the UK having already slashed emissions by 48 percent.”

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch earlier this year declared the 2050 target “impossible”, despite having championed it when she was a government minister. Farage has called the target “doomed” and has previously advocated for a referendum on the subject.

In 2023, Kruger also backed embracing “the opportunities of the green economy” including “new funding to support renewable energy research and development, and more onshore and offshore wind”. He added: “I recognise the huge benefits of the green economy to provide abundant energy, create good jobs, and strengthen our national security.”

Again, this is out of step with Reform’s policies. Tice in 2023 called net zero “the greatest financial negligence that the government has imposed on its people”. The party has vowed to block renewable energy projects, including wind farms, and claims it would scrap clean energy subsidies if it enters office.

Kruger did add a note of scepticism, writing that “every policy has trade-offs and I do not think a quasi-religious worship of net zero – with every balancing consideration treated as an evil heresy – serves our planet or our society well.”

In both of these articles, Kruger’s position reflected the Conservative government of the time – the first, Boris Johnson’s support for climate action; the second, Sunak’s concessions to net zero’s critics. This suggests Kruger’s latest position of decrying “the madness of net zero” could be another case of conforming with his party’s leadership.

He did not respond to DeSmog’s request for comment.

Kruger’s Think Tanks

Kruger has long-standing relationships with groups that are hostile to climate action. 

Kruger is on the advisory board of ARC – a global conservative network with ties to far-right politicians and some of the world’s most prominent climate science deniers. 

ARC received £1 million in 2023 from Paul Marshall, a hedge fund baron who co-owns the anti-climate broadcaster GB News, which employs Farage to the tune of over £390,000 a year. Marshall also bought the influential Spectator magazine last year for £100 million. 

At ARC’s London conference in February, Marshall claimed that the West has been infected by a “climate derangement syndrome” through which we seem willing to “sacrifice our economic prosperity and our people’s livelihoods all for the sake of making some fractional changes to the level of CO2 in the atmosphere”.

According to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the UK’s net zero economy grew by 10 percent in 2024, employing almost a million people in full-time jobs with an average wage of £43,000 – £5,600 higher than the national average.

Marshall owns GB News alongside the Dubai-based Legatum Group investment firm. Kruger is a former senior fellow at the Legatum Institute (now the Prosperity Institute), the group’s think tank. The Conservative faction founded by Kruger, the New Conservatives, received £50,000 from Legatum in December 2023, as revealed by DeSmog.

Additional research by Rei Takver

This article was produced with the support of the European Media and Information Fund (EMIF). The sole responsibility for any content supported by the EMIF lies with the author(s) and it may not necessarily reflect the positions of the EMIF and the Fund Partners, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the European University Institute.