Danny Kruger

“Hug a hoodie” recommended David Cameron in 2006, thereby rebranding the party to an era of so-called compassionate conservatism. Danny Kruger was the man who coined the phrase. Kruger studied at Eton, Edinburgh, and Oxford, before embarking on a diverse career of politics, journalism, and charity. He worked at the Centre for Policy Studies, was a Conservative Party policy adviser, and then joined The Daily Telegraph as its chief leader-writer. In 2006, he joined David Cameron’s team. Kruger later founded Only Connect with his wife, a charity which helps prevent former inmates from re-offending, and was its CEO from 2008 to 2015. He was also CEO of West London Zone, a charity working with children to help them achieve their full potential. Following this, he became a Senior Fellow at the Legatum Institute. A Brexiter, he became Boris Johnson’s political secretary in 2019, moving across the road from an expert advisor role at the DCMS. His connection with the PM cannot but have helped his parliamentary ambitions of his own, being elected in 2019. Kruger is an evangelical Christian and called for a return to Christian values in his 2020 maiden speech.