🔗 Share this article

At recent Reform UK press conferences, a pair of notable heads can often be seen in the forefront: the near-white locks of Danny Kruger and the styled blond hair of James Orr.

Beyond shaping the policy programme for what could be the UK’s future administration, the pair share another trait in common. Each is a highly devout believer who came to religion in adulthood, and possess trenchant views on matters of society such as abortion and the traditional family unit.

Connections and Convictions

The MP Kruger, who defected from the Conservatives, and Orr, a Cambridge academic, also sit on the advisory board of a conservative policy group called the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship.

A further participant is the financier Paul Marshall, the investment tycoon who owns GB News and the conservative Spectator magazine. Marshall is a practising Christian.

“Religion, specifically Protestant evangelism, has in recent decades been a key characteristic of US rightwing politics,” its followers providing the core of a particular political support.

Transatlantic Links

There are some links. Orr is sufficiently close to the US Vice-President that he has welcomed him at his private residence. Orr is also involved in the NatCon movement, which has connections to the American faith-based populist world.

However, direct comparisons quickly break down due to a basic issue of numbers. While surveys indicate that close to a fourth of US adults are evangelical Christians, the figure for the UK is roughly one-tenth of that at most.

The UK Evangelical Vote

An additional crucial element to consider. While US evangelicals lean firmly to the right, recent surveys by the UK’s Evangelical Alliance indicate the broader situation in Britain is markedly distinct.

Research of nearly 1,500 evangelicals places Labour in the first place with 26% support. The Reform party and Liberal Democrats are level on 20%, with the Conservatives on 18%.

Other questions demonstrate support among evangelicals for more generous welfare payments, but also significant concern about plans to legalise assisted suicide.

“Sometimes with evangelicals there can be a dissonance between personal views, particularly regarding social issues, and how people vote,” explained a representative. “As an instance, someone might have a strong opinion on abortion, but they don’t see voting as a way to lead to change.”

Cross-Party Belief

Evangelism does exist in parliament, including cross-party faith-based meetings. But it is a phenomenon also of the political left, with figures like Kruger balanced out by Tim Farron and the Labour Party Member of Parliament Rachael Maskell.

Maskell is very open about how faith informs her politics, especially concerning issues such as economic disadvantage.

“Moral justice was ‘a big part’ of the party's ethos,” she stated. “It stems from our roots, how we think about disparity in society, ensuring we have a just system.”

A Newer Strain

There is, however a different and newer side to religion in UK politics, one influenced by US concepts of faith-based nationalism.

Tommy Robinson has begun to present himself as explicitly Christian, though a lot of this is done as a counterpoint to Islam.

Similarly, Nick Tenconi, who leads the UK branch of Turning Point, includes social media messaging about the country needing to “return to Christ” alongside anti-Muslim content.

In a dramatic manifestation of this, a linked nationalist Christian group called King’s Army marched in formation through Soho, a location apparently selected as it is the heart of London’s LGBT community.

Limited Influence

All this remains, however, fairly niche in UK politics. While critics sometimes portray certain figures as financial backers of American-style religious politics, friends insist they are simply observant believers who are firmly against any politicisation of faith.

He has been not shy of occasional off-piste language, for example using a speech to censure what he said was a younger generation influenced by a blend of ideologies.

“Here in Britain you do have some Christian nationalists, but when it comes to politics it tends to be a sort of longing for a Christian past, linked to our historic identity,” said one commentator.

One Christian MP with conservative views noted that while the issue of assisted dying had united MPs with faith, any links beyond that felt limited.

“I do not get the sense of much of an evangelical lobby,” they said. “In my view, my faith is more a basis for what I already believe. And here, religion is not particularly a vote winner.”