AIBU to question Danny Kruger's Oxford background and charity funding?

[LostinLondon2025]

I’m curious about Danny Kruger, previously Conservative, now Reform, and apparently considering re-joining the Tories now that Nigel Farage has been caught out hiding the £5m he was given by a Thai Crypto billionaire to - hmmm - relax reporting rules on Crypto

I gather Danny did his DPhil at Oxford. Unusually, I can find no note of his college anywhere, nor the title of his DPhil, nor who funded it. Does anyone know?

I also have questions about his teaching at the Blavatnik School of Government. I happen to know the stipendiary pay there is unusually low - about £17k-£20k at the time he was there - and it’s therefore not the impressive intellectual flex that a lot of people think it might be. Quite a lot of rich foreign graduates use the Blavatnik for CV points. Was Danny, not foreign, being financially supported by his mother, the famous Bake Off host Prue Leith, during this time?

Who donated to Danny’s White City estate charity? Anyone who lives in Shepherd’s Bush will tell you he’s not a popular man and nor is his wife. Would you not expect those local people that they helped to be full of praise and gratitude?

I’m not a journalist, but my spidey senses are tingling here.

@LostinLondon2025 i'm not sure what the query is

College was Lincoln

You asked, did his mum pay for the qualification? Maybe she did. Lots of parents pay for their DC qualification.

I don't know anything about the charity

I just saw you were asking if his mum supported him in that teaching job

Isn't she loaded? Yeah, maybe she did.

Thanks @WatermelonSalad1 I think I will be looking up his doctoral thesis at Lincoln.

I asked the question because a whole group of us who are Oxford friends and a similar age to Danny Kruger, and one an academic at St John’s in the History faculty, have never, ever come across him in an Oxford context. Unlike Matt Hancock, Dominic Raab, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak etc all of whom were our contemporaries and about whom we all have six degrees of separation stories. It is really quite a feat to be so mysterious at Oxford, and we were wondering why.

The title and funding of his thesis is important because (as several PPs have already commented), Kruger holds some unusual views. Are they his own, or ones he has been paid to lobby? The Christian Right is a key vote bank for Trump so I’d like to know if Kruger is similarly beholden.

If Prue Leith paid for Danny’s studies and his charitable career, I think some fans and brands would like to know.

Of course I’d be asking the same questions about any politician, but I don’t know anyone who went to Leeds with Keir or lives near Andy Burnham. Danny Kruger is only a backbencher, but he has an unusual degree of visibility because of his mother, and he’s increasingly the new darling of the Right wingers.

It wasn’t a requirement to submit it till 2007. This postdates him

So to be clear OP -

You suspect MP Danny Kruger doesn't really have a doctorate, or never submitted a thesis, or never really attended Oxford University?

You think he's bigged up a non-job?

And you think a charity he's set up is some kind of grift or cover?

His kids were at school with mine. He’s generally considered a bit of a dickhead, and his wife who ran the debating society (very well it has to be said) was encouraged by the governors to step down. We never knew why, but assumed it was to do with his joining Reform. He reminds me of Gilderoy Lockhart - a vain man with some crackpot views desperately seeking validation.

I don't know much about him, but for some reason I thought he was younger

Probably because all politicians are younger than me these days, ha ha

@LostinLondon2025 I think reform politicians will be coming under a lot of scrutiny but I reckon he's probably more likely to be vetted properly because he was a Tory

I don't know why it would make any difference to anyone if his parents subbed him isn't that what rich parents do? I thought you were going to say you thought that someone else had funded him. But it looks like his previous career is too far back for that to be relevant

Maybe Prue wrote it

I care a lot about this. He is my MP. I’d love it if more info came out about this. Some of his views are abhorrent to me and he is a terrible constituency MP.

Trying hard, much?

You can crow all you like about Reform. You think folk who are absolutely sick of you far left political heroes are going to be put off voting for Reform based on this desperate speculation. Lol.

Yes YABU OP.

Just because you and your mates don’t know Danny Kruger doesn’t mean he didn’t go to Oxford — especially as he didn’t go there as an undergrad.

What’s the salary at the Blavatnik Centre got to do with anything? And whether his parents funded his DPhil? Not a crime AFAIK.

I don’t know about his charity but a quick search reveals some positive Google reviews.

Sounds like you don’t like his beliefs so your “spidey senses” are going into overdrive.

Agreed. We would be much better off ditching the any speculation about Danny Kruger and focusing instead on Nigel Farage's flagrant breaking of the parliamentary rules by failing to register an interest in relation to the massive £5 million donation from a crypto billionaire and his dodgy house purchases. These things warrant much more scrutiny as they are more likely to help people realise the reality of what Reform stands for.

Running scared of Reform aren't they?

He’s apparently an alumnus of Lincoln College. DPhil was on Edmund Burke, according to Conservative Home.

I give a toss too. What I don’t give a toss about are people who use misogynist language like “Rachel from Accounts.”

FGS so many on here trying to throw mud at Reform . It’s so tiresome . As if anyone ever who’s not a jurno thinks of this stuff . Most people don’t even know who he is . Go and do something useful , maybe help at an animal rescue or deliver meals on wheels .

All MPs are fair game for name calling. If it's OK to use derogatory terms for male politicians, why is it suddenly spectacularly different when it's towards a woman?

They’re often funded by research councils or the university. Mine was funded by the university, it’s called a studentship, they pay you to do the research basically. Self funded PhD’s are a bit looked down on. It’s basically a case of you coming up with a thesis and the uni/research councils not finding it impressive enough to fund. This is just me explaining the DPhil situation, no idea about the rest (or who he even is).

Not sure if I am missing something but the authors on the Oxford thesis link are P Kruger, M Kruger and N Kruger. No D Kruger. And according to Wiki his name is Daniel Rayne Kruger. I may be making myself look very uneducated but I can't see how any of those theses are his.

I give a toss too. He’s quite prominent

He also doesn’t agree with a woman’s choice to have an abortion. Dreadful man.

Misandristic language is fine but not misogynistic references? Once again, if you're going to be so precious about this standard, do make sure you apply it evenly.

But if he was there as a graduate student, it’s perfectly possible you’d never have heard of it, let alone run across him. I did an MSt and a DPhil at Oxford and barely had any contact with undergraduates other than with those I tutored.

Do you think this is a Reform bashing post? He is my in laws MP. They have been stalwart Tories through and through all their lives. He was Tory last time they voted and they were mortified when he jumped ship. As were many people in the area.

As a small 'c' conservative Christian, he holds some very right wing, misogynistic views, and is a lousy local MP for the area. His Mum is well known to have distanced herself from his political views.

Whatever party he is in, he is a grifter. My guess is he likes the perks of being an MP too much and is worried he has angered his local base so won't be getting voted in next time. It will have nothing to do with Farage or what Reform thinks it stands for. He will be wanting a secure seat.

Don't you want to scrutinise all politicians? I am a swing voter. I would never blindly follow any party or politician.