🔗 Share this article

At recent Reform UK media events, two very distinctive figures can often be seen in the front row: the near-white locks of party policy chief Danny Kruger and the swept-back blond mane of James Orr.

Beyond shaping the policy programme for what might become the UK’s next government, the duo have something else in common. Both are highly devout Christian who found religion in adulthood, and possess strong opinions on social issues such as reproductive rights and the traditional family unit.

Connections and Convictions

The MP Kruger, who switched allegiance from the Conservatives, and Orr, a Cambridge academic, are members of the advisory board of a conservative policy group known as the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship.

Another member is Paul Marshall, the hedge fund millionaire who owns GB News and the rightwing Spectator magazine. Marshall is a devout Christian.

“Religion, specifically Protestant evangelism, has in recent decades been one of the defining elements of American conservative politics,” with its adherents forming the bedrock of a particular political support.

Cross-Over Connections

Parallels do exist. Orr is sufficiently close to the US Vice-President that he has hosted him at his private residence. Orr is also active in the NatCon movement, which has ties to the American faith-based populist world.

However, direct comparisons quickly break down due to a simple matter of numbers. While surveys indicate that nearly a quarter of US adults are evangelicals, the figure for the UK is roughly one-tenth of that at the very most.

A Different Landscape

An additional important factor to consider. While US evangelicals tilt strongly to the political right, recent surveys by the UK’s Evangelical Alliance indicate the broader situation here is quite different.

Research of nearly 1,500 evangelicals places the Labour Party in the first place with over a quarter backing. The Reform party and Liberal Democrats are tied on 20%, with the Conservatives on 18%.

Other questions reveal backing from evangelicals for increased welfare payments, but also concerted alarm about plans to legalise assisted dying.

“Sometimes with evangelicals there can be a dissonance between personal views, especially on social issues, and how people vote,” said one advocacy head. “For example, someone might have a strong opinion on abortion, but they do not view voting as likely to lead to change.”

Cross-Party Belief

Evangelism does exist in parliament, including all-party prayer group meetings. But it is a phenomenon also of the left, with figures like Kruger balanced out by Tim Farron and the Labour MP Rachael Maskell.

Maskell is very open about how faith shapes her politics, notably on issues such as poverty.

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

Emerging Currents

There is, however a different and newer side to religion in UK politics, one more closely modelled on US concepts of religious nationalism.

Tommy Robinson has started to present himself as explicitly Christian, although much of this is done as a counterpoint to Islam.

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

In a dramatic manifestation of this, a linked nationalist Christian group named King’s Army paraded through Soho, a location seemingly chosen as it is the heart of London’s LGBT community.

A Niche Phenomenon

These elements remain, however, fairly niche in UK politics. While commentators sometimes depict certain figures as financial backers of US-style evangelism, friends insist they are little more than devout believers who are firmly against any political exploitation of faith.

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

“In the UK 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,” noted an analyst.

A parliamentarian of faith on the right noted that while the issue of assisted dying had helped bring together MPs with faith, any connections beyond that felt restricted.

“I do not get the sense of much of an organized faith-based lobby,” they commented. “For me, my faith is more a foundation for what I already believe. And here, religion is not particularly a decisive electoral issue.”