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During recent the Reform party press conferences, two very distinctive figures can often be seen in the front row: the pale hair of Danny Kruger and the styled blond hair of senior adviser James Orr.

As well as guiding the policy programme for what could be the UK’s future administration, the duo share another trait in common. Each is a highly devout Christian who found religion in adulthood, and possess trenchant views on matters of society such as abortion and the traditional family unit.

Connections and Convictions

Kruger, an MP, who switched allegiance from the Conservatives, and Orr, a Cambridge academic, are members of the steering committee of a rightwing thinktank known as the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship.

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

“Religion, specifically 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

Parallels do exist. Orr is sufficiently close to JD Vance that he has welcomed him at his family home. Orr is also involved in the National Conservatism movement, which has connections to the American faith-based populist world.

But any closer comparisons soon fall down due to a basic issue of scale. 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 important factor to take into account. While US evangelicals tilt strongly to the political right, new polling by the UK’s Evangelical Alliance suggests that the wider picture in Britain is quite different.

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

Other questions demonstrate backing from evangelicals for increased welfare payments, but also significant concern about plans to legalise assisted suicide.

“Among evangelicals there can be a dissonance between opinions, 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 likely to lead to change.”

Faith Across the Aisle

Evangelical belief is present in parliament, including all-party faith-based meetings. But it is a reality also of the left, with figures like Kruger balanced out by the Lib Dem Tim Farron and the Labour MP Rachael Maskell.

Maskell is very open about how her beliefs informs her politics, notably on issues such as economic disadvantage.

“Moral justice was ‘a big part’ of Labour politics,” she stated. “It stems from our roots, how we think about disparity 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 begun to portray 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 the Turning Point group, includes social media messaging about the country needing to “return to Christ” combined with anti-Islam content.

In a dramatic display of this, a linked 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.

Limited Influence

These elements remain, however, relatively marginal in UK politics. While critics sometimes depict certain figures as wealthy incubators of American-style religious politics, friends maintain they are little more than devout believers who are firmly against any politicisation of faith.

He has been not shy of sometimes unconventional language, for example in an address 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 tends to 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 united MPs with faith, any connections 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 personally hold. And here, religion is not particularly a decisive electoral issue.”