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During recent the Reform party media events, a pair of notable figures can often be spotted in the front row: the near-white locks of party policy chief 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 share another trait in common. Both are deeply committed believer who came to religion in adulthood, and hold trenchant views on matters of society such as abortion and the traditional family unit.

A Network of Faith

The MP Kruger, who switched allegiance from the Conservatives, and Orr, a Cambridge academic, also sit on the steering committee of a conservative policy group known as the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship.

A further participant is the financier Paul Marshall, the investment tycoon who owns GB News and the conservative Spectator magazine. He is also a devout Christian.

“Religion, specifically Protestant evangelism, has in recent decades been a key characteristic of American conservative politics,” its followers providing the core of a particular political support.

Cross-Over Connections

There are some links. Orr is personally connected to JD Vance that he has welcomed 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 parallels soon fall down due to a basic issue of numbers. While polling shows that nearly a quarter of US adults are evangelical Christians, the figure 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 lean firmly 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 lead with over a quarter backing. The Reform party and Liberal Democrats are level on 20%, with the Conservatives on 18%.

Further polling demonstrate support among evangelicals for more generous welfare payments, but also concerted alarm about plans to permit assisted dying.

“Sometimes with evangelicals there can be a gap between opinions, particularly regarding social issues, and how people vote,” explained a representative. “As an instance, someone might have a firm stance on abortion, but they don’t see voting as a way to lead to change.”

Faith Across the Aisle

Evangelism 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 MP 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’s part of our foundations, how we think about disparity in society, making sure we have a just system.”

A Newer Strain

Nonetheless, there exists a different and newer side to religion in UK politics, one more closely modelled on US concepts of religious nationalism.

The activist 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 Turning Point, includes social media messaging about the country needing to “return to Christ” alongside anti-Muslim content.

In a dramatic manifestation of this, a linked nationalist Christian group named King’s Army marched in formation through Soho, a location apparently selected as it is the heart of London’s LGBT community.

Limited Influence

All this remains, however, fairly niche in UK politics. While critics sometimes depict certain figures as wealthy incubators of American-style religious politics, friends maintain they are little more than observant believers who are firmly against any politicisation of faith.

Kruger is not shy of occasional off-piste language, 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 a few 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 on the right observed that while the issue of assisted dying had united MPs with faith, any links beyond that felt restricted.

“I certainly don’t get the sense of much of an evangelical lobby,” they commented. “For me, my faith is more a foundation for what I already believe. And here, religion is not really a decisive electoral issue.”