At recent Reform UK media events, two very distinctive figures can often be spotted in the forefront: the near-white locks of Danny Kruger and the swept-back blond mane of senior adviser James Orr.
As well as guiding the political agenda for what might become the UK’s next government, the pair have something else in common. Both are deeply committed Christian who found religion in adulthood, and hold trenchant views on social issues such as reproductive rights and the family.
The MP Kruger, who defected from the Conservatives, and Orr, a university scholar, also sit on the steering committee of a rightwing thinktank called the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship.
A further participant is Paul Marshall, the investment tycoon who controls GB News and the conservative Spectator magazine. Marshall is a devout Christian.
“Religion, specifically Protestant evangelism, has in recent decades been a key characteristic of American conservative politics,” with its adherents providing the core of a particular political support.
Parallels do exist. Orr is sufficiently close to the US Vice-President that he has hosted him at his private residence. Orr is also involved in the National Conservatism movement, which has connections to the American faith-based populist world.
However, direct parallels soon fall down due to a basic issue of numbers. 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.
An additional crucial element to take into account. While US evangelicals tilt strongly to the right, new polling by the UK’s Evangelical Alliance suggests that the wider picture here is markedly distinct.
A poll of nearly 1,500 evangelicals places the Labour Party in the first place with 26% support. The Reform party and Liberal Democrats are tied on 20%, with the Conservatives on 18%.
Other questions reveal support among evangelicals for increased welfare payments, but also concerted alarm about plans to permit assisted dying.
“Among evangelicals there can be a gap between personal views, particularly regarding social issues, and how people vote,” said one advocacy head. “For example, someone might have a firm stance on abortion, but they don’t see voting as a way to lead to change.”
Evangelism does exist in parliament, including cross-party prayer group meetings. But it is a reality also of the political left, with figures like Kruger countered by the Lib Dem Tim Farron and the Labour Party Member of Parliament Rachael Maskell.
Maskell is very open about how her beliefs shapes her politics, especially concerning issues such as economic disadvantage.
“Moral justice was ‘a big part’ of Labour politics,” she stated. “It’s part of our roots, how we think about disparity in society, ensuring we have a fair framework.”
There is, however a distinct and more recent side to religion in UK politics, one more closely modelled on American ideas of religious nationalism.
Tommy Robinson has started to present himself as explicitly Christian, though a lot of this is done as a contrast to Islam.
Similarly, Nick Tenconi, who leads the UK branch of the Turning Point group, posts social media messaging about the country needing to “return to Christ” combined with anti-Muslim content.
One striking display of this, a Turning Point-allied nationalist Christian group named King’s Army marched in formation through Soho, a location seemingly chosen as it is the centre of London’s LGBT community.
These elements remain, however, fairly niche in UK politics. While critics sometimes depict certain figures as wealthy incubators of US-style evangelism, friends maintain they are simply devout believers who are firmly against any politicisation of faith.
He has been not averse to sometimes unconventional rhetoric, for example using a speech to censure what he said was a younger generation indoctrinated 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 united MPs with faith, any links beyond that felt restricted.
“I do not get the sense of much of an evangelical lobby,” they commented. “For me, my faith is more a basis for what I already believe. And here, religion is not really a decisive electoral issue.”
A geospatial analyst with over a decade of experience in terrain modeling and environmental data visualization.
