Family Matters

EXPLORE BIG BRUE FESTIVAL

How can families live with profound political and moral disagreement without allowing it to pull them apart?

Prue Leith and Danny Kruger may be mother and son, but their lives and beliefs have followed strikingly different paths. Prue became one of the defining figures in British food culture through her restaurants, cookery schools and publishing ventures, before achieving national-treasure status through The Great British Bake Off. Danny grew up amid that ambition and activity before entering public life, first as a political adviser and charity founder, then as an MP. In 2025, he left the Conservatives to join Reform UK.

Their differences over abortion and assisted dying have been aired publicly, while Prue has expressed uncertainty about Danny’s move to Reform. Yet both have spoken about their ability to argue without allowing politics to overwhelm their affection.

In conversation with Mariella Frostrup, they reflect on growing up with a mother busy building empires, the beliefs and tensions that pass between generations, and how a family accommodates profound disagreement without coming apart.