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At recent the Reform party press conferences, two very distinctive heads can often be spotted in the forefront: the near-white locks of Danny Kruger and the styled blond hair of senior adviser James Orr.

Beyond shaping the policy programme for what might become the UK’s future administration, the duo share another trait in common. Each is a highly devout believer who came to religion in adulthood, and hold trenchant views on social issues such as reproductive rights and the traditional family unit.

Connections and Convictions

Kruger, an MP, who switched allegiance from the Conservatives, and Orr, a university scholar, 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 investment tycoon who owns GB News and the rightwing Spectator magazine. Marshall is a practising Christian.

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

Transatlantic Links

There are some links. Orr is personally connected to the US Vice-President that he has welcomed him at his private residence. Orr is also involved in the National Conservatism movement, which has ties to the US religious-populism world.

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

A Different Landscape

An additional crucial element to take into account. While US evangelicals lean firmly to the right, recent surveys by the UK’s Evangelical Alliance indicate the wider picture here is quite different.

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

Further polling demonstrate support among evangelicals for more generous welfare payments, but also significant concern about plans to permit assisted suicide.

“Sometimes with evangelicals there can be a gap between personal views, 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

Evangelism is present in parliament, including all-party prayer group meetings. But it is a reality present on the left, with figures like Kruger countered by the Lib Dem Tim Farron and the Labour Party Member of Parliament Rachael Maskell.

Maskell is very open about how faith shapes her politics, especially concerning issues such as economic disadvantage.

“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 fair framework.”

Emerging Currents

There is, however a different and newer side to religion in UK politics, one more closely modelled on American ideas of religious nationalism.

The activist Tommy Robinson has started to portray 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 branch 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 Turning Point-allied nationalist Christian group called King’s Army paraded 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 maintain they are little more than devout believers who are strongly opposed to any political exploitation of faith.

Kruger is not averse to occasional off-piste rhetoric, for example in an address to censure what he said was a younger generation influenced by a blend of ideologies.

“In the UK you do have a few Christian nationalists, but when it comes to politics it more often be a sort of longing for a Christian past, linked to our historic identity,” said one commentator.

One Christian MP on the right observed that while the issue of assisted dying had helped bring together MPs with faith, any links beyond that felt restricted.

“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 really a decisive electoral issue.”