🔗 Share this article

At recent the Reform party press conferences, two very distinctive heads can often be spotted in the front row: the pale hair of Danny Kruger and the swept-back blond mane of James Orr.

Beyond shaping the political agenda for what might become the UK’s future administration, the duo have something else in common. Both are deeply committed Christian who found religion in later life, and hold trenchant views on social issues such as abortion and the family.

A Network of Faith

Kruger, an MP, who switched allegiance 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 hedge fund millionaire who owns GB News and the conservative Spectator magazine. He is also a practising Christian.

“Faith, particularly Protestant evangelism, has in recent decades been a key characteristic of American conservative politics,” with its adherents forming the bedrock of a particular political support.

Transatlantic Links

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 connections to the American faith-based populist world.

However, direct comparisons quickly break down due to a basic issue of numbers. While polling shows that nearly a fourth of US adults are evangelical Christians, the proportion for the UK is about a tenth of that at the very most.

A Different Landscape

There is another crucial element to consider. While US evangelicals tilt strongly to the right, new polling by the UK’s Evangelical Alliance suggests that the broader situation here is quite different.

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

Other questions demonstrate backing from evangelicals for more generous welfare payments, but also concerted alarm about plans to legalise assisted suicide.

“Among evangelicals there can be a dissonance between opinions, particularly regarding social issues, and how people cast their ballot,” explained a representative. “For example, someone might have a strong opinion on abortion, but they don’t see voting as likely to lead to change.”

Faith Across the Aisle

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

Maskell is explicit about how her beliefs shapes her politics, notably on issues such as economic disadvantage.

“Ethical fairness was ‘a big part’ of the party's ethos,” Maskell argued. “It stems from our roots, how we think about inequality in society, making sure we have a just system.”

Emerging Currents

Nonetheless, there exists a different and newer side to religion in UK politics, one influenced by American ideas of faith-based nationalism.

The activist Tommy Robinson has begun to present himself as openly a Christian, although much of this is done as a counterpoint to Islam.

Similarly, Nick Tenconi, who leads the UK outpost of Turning Point, includes 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 called King’s Army marched in formation through Soho, a location apparently selected as it is the centre of London’s LGBT community.

A Niche Phenomenon

All this remains, 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 strongly opposed to any political exploitation of faith.

Kruger is not averse to sometimes unconventional rhetoric, for example using a speech to condemn what he said was a younger generation indoctrinated by a blend of ideologies.

“In the UK you do have a few Christian nationalists, but when it comes to politics it tends to be a sort of Christian nostalgia, linked to our historical character,” said one commentator.

One Christian MP on the right noted that while the issue of assisted dying had helped bring together 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 really a vote winner.”