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During recent Reform UK media events, a pair of notable heads can often be seen in the front row: the near-white locks of party policy chief Danny Kruger and the styled blond hair of senior adviser James Orr.

Beyond shaping the policy programme for what could be the UK’s future administration, the duo have something else in common. Both are highly devout Christian who found religion in adulthood, and possess strong opinions on matters of society such as reproductive rights and the traditional family unit.

Connections and Convictions

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

A further participant is Paul Marshall, the hedge fund millionaire who controls GB News and the conservative Spectator magazine. He is also a practising Christian.

“Religion, specifically evangelical Christianity, has in recent decades been a key characteristic of American conservative politics,” its followers forming the bedrock of Donald Trump’s support.

Transatlantic Links

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

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

The UK Evangelical Vote

There is another important factor to take into account. While US evangelicals tilt strongly to the right, new polling by the UK’s Evangelical Alliance indicate the wider picture here is quite different.

Research 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 legalise assisted suicide.

“Sometimes with evangelicals there can be a dissonance between opinions, especially on social issues, and how people vote,” explained a representative. “For example, someone might have a firm stance on abortion, but they do not view voting as likely to lead to change.”

Cross-Party Belief

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

Maskell is very open about how faith informs her politics, especially concerning issues such as poverty.

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

A Newer Strain

There is, however a different and newer side to religion in UK politics, one influenced by US concepts of religious nationalism.

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

In a similar vein, Nick Tenconi, who leads the UK outpost of Turning Point, posts social media messaging about the country needing to “return to Christ” alongside anti-Islam content.

One striking manifestation of this, a linked Christian nationalist group named King’s Army marched in formation through Soho, a location seemingly chosen as it is the heart of London’s LGBT community.

A Niche Phenomenon

These elements remain, however, relatively marginal in UK politics. While critics sometimes portray certain figures as financial backers of US-style evangelism, friends maintain they are little more than observant believers who are firmly against any political exploitation of faith.

He has been not averse to sometimes unconventional language, for example in an address to condemn what he said was a younger generation indoctrinated by a blend of ideologies.

“Here in Britain you do have a few Christian nationalists, but when it comes to politics it more often be a sort of Christian nostalgia, linked to our historical character,” said one commentator.

A parliamentarian of faith on the right observed that while the issue of assisted dying had united MPs with faith, any links beyond that felt limited.

“I do not get the sense of much of an evangelical lobby,” they said. “For me, my faith is more a basis for what I personally hold. And here, religion is not really a decisive electoral issue.”