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During recent the Reform party media events, two very distinctive heads can often be spotted in the forefront: the near-white locks of party policy chief Danny Kruger and the styled blond hair of James Orr.

Beyond shaping the political agenda for what might become the UK’s next government, the pair share another trait in common. Both are deeply committed Christian who came to religion in adulthood, and hold trenchant views on matters of society such as abortion and the traditional family unit.

Connections and Convictions

Kruger, an MP, who defected 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 investment tycoon who owns GB News and the rightwing Spectator magazine. Marshall is a practising Christian.

“Religion, specifically evangelical Christianity, has in recent decades been a key characteristic of US rightwing 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 NatCon movement, which has ties to the US religious-populism world.

But any closer parallels soon fall down due to a simple matter of scale. While polling shows that close to a fourth of US adults are evangelical Christians, the figure for the UK is roughly one-tenth of that at most.

The UK Evangelical Vote

An additional important factor to take into account. While US evangelicals lean firmly to the political right, new polling by the UK’s Evangelical Alliance suggests that the broader situation here is markedly distinct.

A poll of nearly 1,500 evangelicals places Labour in the first place with 26% support. Reform and the Liberal Democrats are tied on 20%, with the Conservatives on 18%.

Other questions reveal backing from evangelicals for increased welfare payments, but also significant concern about plans to permit assisted dying.

“Sometimes with evangelicals there can be a dissonance between personal views, particularly regarding social issues, and how people vote,” explained a representative. “For example, someone might have a strong opinion on abortion, but they do not view voting as a way to lead to change.”

Faith Across the Aisle

Evangelism does exist in parliament, including cross-party faith-based meetings. But it is a phenomenon present on the political left, with figures like Kruger countered by Tim Farron and the Labour MP Rachael Maskell.

She has been very open about how her beliefs informs her politics, especially concerning issues such as poverty.

“Ethical fairness was ‘a big part’ of the party's ethos,” Maskell argued. “It stems from our roots, how we think about disparity in society, making sure 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 American ideas of faith-based nationalism.

Tommy Robinson has started to present 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, posts social media messaging about the country needing to “return to Christ” combined with anti-Muslim content.

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

A Niche Phenomenon

All this remains, however, fairly niche in UK politics. While critics sometimes portray certain figures as financial backers of American-style religious politics, friends maintain they are little more than devout believers who are strongly opposed to any political exploitation 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 influenced by a mix of ideologies.

“Here in Britain you do have some Christian nationalists, but when it comes to politics it tends to be a sort of Christian nostalgia, linked to our historic identity,” noted an analyst.

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 personally hold. And here, religion is not particularly a vote winner.”