🔗 Share this article

At recent the Reform party press conferences, a pair of notable heads can often be spotted 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 policy programme for what could be the UK’s next government, the pair have something else in common. Each is a deeply committed Christian who found religion in adulthood, and hold strong opinions on matters of society such as abortion and the family.

Connections and Convictions

The MP Kruger, who defected from the Conservatives, and Orr, a Cambridge academic, also sit on the advisory board of a rightwing thinktank known as the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship.

Another member is the financier Paul Marshall, the investment tycoon who owns GB News and the conservative Spectator magazine. He is also a practising Christian.

“Faith, particularly evangelical Christianity, has in recent decades been one of the defining elements of American conservative politics,” its followers forming the bedrock of a particular political support.

Transatlantic Links

There are some links. Orr is personally connected 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 soon fall down due to a basic issue of scale. While polling shows that close to a quarter of US adults are evangelicals, the proportion 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 lean firmly to the political right, recent surveys by the UK’s Evangelical Alliance suggests that the wider picture in Britain is markedly distinct.

Research of nearly 1,500 evangelicals places 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 backing from evangelicals for increased welfare payments, but also concerted alarm about plans to legalise assisted suicide.

“Sometimes with evangelicals there can be a dissonance between personal views, especially on social issues, and how people cast their ballot,” said one advocacy head. “For example, someone might have a strong opinion on abortion, but they don’t see voting as a way to lead to change.”

Faith Across the Aisle

Evangelism does exist in parliament, including all-party faith-based meetings. But it is a phenomenon also of the left, with figures like Kruger countered by the Lib Dem Tim Farron and the Labour MP 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’s part of our foundations, how we think about inequality in society, making sure we have a fair framework.”

Emerging Currents

There is, however a distinct and more recent side to religion in UK politics, one influenced by American ideas of religious nationalism.

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

In a similar vein, Nick Tenconi, who leads the UK outpost of the Turning Point group, includes social media messaging about the country needing to “re-embrace Christianity” combined with anti-Muslim content.

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

Limited Influence

These elements remain, however, fairly niche in UK politics. While commentators sometimes portray certain figures as wealthy incubators of US-style evangelism, associates insist they are little more than observant believers who are strongly opposed to any political exploitation of faith.

Kruger is not averse to occasional off-piste rhetoric, for example in an address 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 more often be a sort of longing for a Christian past, linked to our historical character,” said one commentator.

One Christian MP with conservative views observed that while the issue of assisted dying had helped bring together MPs with faith, any connections beyond that felt limited.

“I certainly don’t get the sense of much of an organized faith-based lobby,” they commented. “In my view, my faith is more a foundation for what I already believe. And here, religion is not really a decisive electoral issue.”