Danny Kruger has set his sights on streamlining the civil service and creating a streamlined, “sovereign” Reform UK Government.
Speaking to GB News, the Reform UK MP vowed to “outsmart” and “outgun” civil servants to ensure that “what Parliament decides is sovereign rather than international law”.
Mr Kruger was absent from Reform UK leader Nigel Farage’s Westminster press conference on Tuesday, as he announced his top team for Shadow Cabinet.
Robert Jenrick, Zia Yusuf, Richard Tice and Suella Braverman were all handed top jobs by the Reform leader, with Mr Kruger remaining as just an MP.
Quizzed by host Dawn Neesom on whether he is happy with not being appointed a Cabinet role, Mr Kruger made clear: “People always say they’re happy doing the job they’re doing, but I literally could not want a better job than the one I’ve got.
“I arrange across the whole kind of waterfront of Government activity, my job is to help ensure that our Shadow Cabinet, who are leading in these policy areas, have plans that we’re ready to implement.
“I’ve got the job I want, and I hope I’ll be able to do it right up to the election.”
He explained: “I’m in charge of preparation for Government, so there’s a process, and my role is to ensure that if we win the election, we are ready. So obviously there’s a big policy dimension there.
“But my role is really focused on implementation legislation, civil service reform, the judiciary, all the all the blockers on effective Government that have meant that nothing really changes in the last 25 years, except the faces on the ministerial website.”
Danny Kruger has vowed to take on the civil service in a bid to reform the ‘blob’
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GB NEWS
Outlining his plan to take on the civil service, Mr Kruger told GB News that there are “important changes” that need to be implemented “immediately”.
He said: “We need to change the ministerial code, the civil service code, to ensure that what Parliament decides is sovereign rather than international law.
“We also need to ensure that ministers are actually in charge of their departments.
“At the moment when a minister arrives, they can maybe bring a couple of very junior special advisers with them.
“We want to ensure that ministers will have the power to appoint and to remove civil servants and senior advisers so that what the Government wants to do, what the electorate has decided that we should do if we win actually happens.”
As Dawn argued that he is “vastly outnumbered” by the amount of working civil servants, Mr Kruger vowed to “outsmart them” and “reduce the headcount”.
Nigel Farage accompanied by the key members of his Shadow Cabinet | PA
He said: “There’s 500,000 people in the civil service, 130,000 more than there were 10 years ago.
“So the system is growing uncontrollably, and we need to reduce the headcount. We’re never going to outnumber them, but listen, we can outsmart them.
“And what we can certainly do is outgun them, because we’re going to have the power of the mandate. So we are going to be very, very clear, we’re not just going to have a flimsy 20-page manifesto.
“We’re going to have a whole programme for Government, a properly worked out series of detailed plans, including legislation that’s been drafted, new appointments ready to go, a whole series of executive decisions that the Prime Minister can make on day one, week one, month one.
“And we’ll signal that very clearly in advance, so the civil service know what’s coming, and no one can pretend that there’s no mandate for what we want to do.”
Mr Kruger told GB News that he is ‘very happy with the job he has been given’
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GB NEWS
Quizzing Mr Kruger on Reform UK’s new Shadow Cabinet, Dawn asked the MP if there was any “infighting” for the key roles.
Mr Kruger assured Dawn: “The great thing about Reform, there’s no question about who’s in charge.
“Nigel’s the boss and no one is challenging his authority. And I’ve been very delighted to find, I didn’t know what I was jumping into when I moved to Reform, the atmosphere is very, very positive.
“As Nigel says, we have differences, but they happen behind closed doors. We’re here to serve and whatever roles people end up getting, everybody’s got a big job to do. I’ve got a job to do, I’ll prepare for Government.
“There’s no shortage of massive jobs, and we all had lunch together yesterday, a very, very jolly time, as you can imagine a Reform lunch being, and everyone is getting along very well.”