🔗 Share this article

During recent the Reform party media events, a pair of notable heads can often be seen in the forefront: the near-white locks of party policy chief Danny Kruger and the swept-back blond mane of James Orr.

As well as guiding the political agenda for what could be the UK’s future administration, the pair have something else in common. Each is a deeply committed believer who found religion in adulthood, and hold strong opinions on matters of society such as reproductive rights and the family.

Connections and Convictions

Kruger, an MP, who switched allegiance from the Conservatives, and Orr, a university scholar, also sit on the advisory board of a conservative policy group known as the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship.

Another member is the financier Paul Marshall, the investment tycoon who owns GB News and the rightwing Spectator magazine. Marshall is a devout Christian.

“Faith, particularly evangelical Christianity, has in recent decades been a key characteristic of American conservative politics,” with its adherents providing the core of a particular political support.

Cross-Over Connections

There are some links. Orr is sufficiently close to the US Vice-President that he has hosted him at his family home. Orr is also involved in the National Conservatism movement, which has ties to the US religious-populism world.

But any closer comparisons soon fall down due to a basic issue of scale. While polling shows that nearly a quarter of US adults are evangelicals, the figure for the UK is about a tenth of that at the very most.

A Different Landscape

There is another crucial element to take into account. While US evangelicals lean firmly to the right, recent surveys by the UK’s Evangelical Alliance suggests that the broader situation here is markedly distinct.

Research of nearly 1,500 evangelicals shows the Labour Party in the lead with 26% support. Reform and the Liberal Democrats are level on 20%, with the Conservatives on 18%.

Other questions demonstrate support among evangelicals for increased welfare payments, but also concerted alarm about plans to legalise assisted suicide.

“Sometimes with evangelicals there can be a dissonance between opinions, especially on social issues, and how people vote,” explained a representative. “As an instance, someone might have a firm stance on abortion, but they do not view voting as likely to lead to change.”

Faith Across the Aisle

Evangelical belief does exist in parliament, including all-party prayer group meetings. But it is a phenomenon also of the political left, with figures like Kruger countered by the Lib Dem Tim Farron and the Labour MP Rachael Maskell.

Maskell is explicit about how faith shapes her politics, especially concerning issues such as poverty.

“Moral justice was ‘a big part’ of Labour politics,” she stated. “It stems from our roots, how we think about inequality in society, ensuring we have a just system.”

A Newer Strain

Nonetheless, there exists a distinct and more recent side to religion in UK politics, one more closely modelled on American ideas of faith-based nationalism.

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

Similarly, Nick Tenconi, who leads the UK branch of Turning Point, posts social media messaging about the country needing to “re-embrace Christianity” combined with anti-Muslim content.

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

Limited Influence

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

Kruger is not averse to occasional off-piste language, for example using a speech to condemn what he said was a younger generation indoctrinated by a mix of ideologies.

“In the UK you do have some Christian nationalists, but when it comes to politics it more often be a sort of longing for a Christian past, linked to our historic identity,” noted an analyst.

A parliamentarian of faith on the right observed that while the issue of assisted dying had united MPs with faith, any links beyond that felt restricted.

“I certainly don’t get the sense of much of an evangelical lobby,” they commented. “For me, my faith is more a foundation for what I already believe. And here, religion is not particularly a vote winner.”