Right-Wing Watch

‘Christmas cancelled’: The growing influence of US Christian right on UK politics and media

Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead 

Today

LEFT FOOT FORWARD


Tune into GB News (if you dare), and you'd swear Christmas was on the brink of collapse, with its flood of headlines about "banned carols,” Santa volunteers being "sacked," and "Christian outrage" over drag performances.

“Don’t let American Bolsheviks cancel Christmas,” warned Russian-born author Rebekah Koffler in a Fox News article last December. The piece paints a picture of an America under siege by left-wing radicals pushing an agenda to erase traditional values, including religious celebrations.

The UK right-wing media, which is increasingly influenced by American outlets like Fox News, is embracing the same ‘moral panic.’ Tune into GB News (if you dare), and you’d swear Christmas was on the brink of collapse, with its flood of headlines about “banned carols,” Santa volunteers being “sacked,” and “Christian outrage” over drag performances.

While classically Fox News, such hyperbolic warnings are typical of the Christian right narrative.

According to the Oxford Handbook of Christian Fundamentalism, the Christian right movement developed in the United States in the late 1970s as a reaction against the era’s secular and culturally liberal trends such as feminism and the sexual revolution. However, it was rooted in a decades-long fundamentalist or conservative evangelical alliance with political conservatism that began in the early twentieth century, and was on full display during the Trump presidential campaign. Led by Ralph Reed, founder of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, the movement mobilised with intensity, knocking on millions of doors, making millions of phone calls, and reaching millions more through texts and voter guides. They wanted their efforts to culminate in the largest Christian voter turnout in US history. The result has, no doubt, further emboldened their radical agenda, including plans to ban abortion nationwide and restrict LGBTQ+ rights, while undermining the separation of church and state.

This ultra-conservative narrative and agenda is spilling over into UK politics. Backed by “dark money” from US donors, the Christian right is seeking to reshape British politics, targeting progressive policies on abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, freedom of expression and more.

Just this week, Nigel Farage said MPs should look at rolling back Britain’s abortion limit from 24 weeks, suggesting that he could try to open up a debate about women’s reproductive rights. His comment was described as frightening, proof he is a “second-rate Trump,” as iNews columnist Rebecca Reid wrote.

Farage was quoted in a statement from the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), and extreme anti-abortion Christian legal advocacy group in the US, which has been busy forging ties with British MPs. Since 2020, the UK branch of the ADF has more than doubled its spending and has been appointed a stakeholder in a parliamentary group on religious freedoms in a role that grants it direct access to MPs.

This shift is part of a broader rise in national conservatism in the UK, with figures like David Frost, a leading proponent of Brexit, at the helm of this pro-Trump nationalist agenda.

“National conservatism has won its first great victory,” he headlined in a column in the Telegraph after the election, celebrating the rise of a “new” conservative movement based on “promoting nationhood, national identity, culture, borders, history, a degree of social conservatism, the prosperity of people who actually live in the country…”

But how shocked should we really be? In the eyes of such figures as Frost, the adoption of neo-liberal economic policies by the UK should be accompanied by social policies also derived from across the pond. To them it is right and proper that the UK should be seen as the “51st state,” and as such, heavily influenced by the Christian right. It is no accident that Ronald Reagan’s neo-liberal economic policies were accompanied by the politicisation of a certain kind of Christianity, the influence of which grew exponentially during his presidency in the 1980s.

In God’s Own Party: The Making of the Christian Right, Daniel Williams chronicles how Reagan gave rhetorical support to the Christian right, inviting evangelical leaders to the White House. Williams argues that while Reagan could not deliver on the Christian right’s legislative priorities such as school prayers and abortion restrictions, his endorsement solidified the movement’s power and its ties to the Republican Party. By the end of Reagan’s presidency, the Christian right had become more vocal in its opposition to abortion, more militant in its politics, and more determined than ever to recapture the country, Williams argues.

Of course, the UK is secular in a way that the US is not. Fewer than 50% of Britons now believe in any kind of God. In America more than 70% of the population retain belief in some kind of ‘Almighty’ and church attendances remain high.

When discussing the Christian right in Britain, Steven Kettell, associate professor of politics and international studies at the University of Warwick and co-founder of British Politics, acknowledges this difference when he points to research that has concluded that no parallel ‘Christian right’ movement exists, as compared to their US counterparts. Christians in the UK tend to engage with a different set of issues, are typically more left-of-centre on the economy, and have far less political clout.

Nevertheless he warns that “ to ignore the political activities of conservative Christian groups would be to ignore some of the more politically active members of British society. In recent years such groups have contributed to a number of contentious disputes around free speech, abortion and assisted dying, as well as protests about religious freedom and equalities legislation.”

National Conservatism

We only have to look to recent National Conservatism conferences as evidence of this. National Conservatism seeks to advance an agenda of Christian Nationalism. On its website, the movement says: “The Bible should be read as the first among the sources of a shared Western civilisation in schools and universities” and “public life should be rooted in Christianity and its moral vision, which should be honoured by the state and other institutions both public and private.”

The movement’s conferences, held globally, feature prominent Republican figures such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Trump advisor John Bolton, and Fox News’ Tucker Carlson. There is though a strong UK presence too.

In 2023, UK Conservative MPs Michael Gove, Miriam Cates, and Danny Kruger spoke at the NatCon conference in London, alongside David Frost. Cates drew attention for her comments on low birthrates, framing them as an existential threat to the West, while invoking themes similar to those of far-right leaders like Viktor Orbán and Giorgia Meloni. Cates suggested that “cultural Marxism” was to blame for the declining birthrate, without directly linking it to immigration.

Orbán has used Christian rhetoric to justify anti-immigration policies, painting Hungary as a “Christian democracy” and allying with Donald Trump’s values. In 2019, he claimed there was an “overlap of values” between the US and Hungary. “Neither of us is willing to accept the hypocrisy of modern politics, which neglects the fact that Christianity is the most persecuted religion globally,” he said.

‘Dark money’ from US sources

In recent years, concerns about the influence of dark money making its way from American donors to fund politics in the UK and Europe have been raised.

In 2019, openDemocracy reported that US Christian Right ‘fundamentalists’ linked to the Trump administration and Steve Bannon are among a dozen American groups that had funnelled at least $50m of ‘dark money’ into Europe over the last decade.

None of the US groups disclose their donors, but according to openDemocracy’s research, at least two have links to conservative billionaires, including the Koch Brothers. They have also backed ‘armies’ of ultra-conservative lawyers and political activists, as well as ‘family values’ campaigns against LGBTQ+ rights, sex education and abortion – and a number appear to have increasing links with Europe’s far-right, continued the report.

Many are connected to the World Congress of Families (WCF), a network of ultra-conservatives with links to far-right politicians in Italy, Hungary, Poland, Spain, and Serbia. In response to openDemocracy’s findings, over 40 MEPs urged the EU to investigate the influence of US Christian fundamentalists.

By 2020 US Christian right groups had spent over $280 million globally since 2008. One group, Family Watch International, has campaigned against LGBTQ rights and has been training African politicians, religious and civil society leaders for years to oppose comprehensive sexuality education.

Then there’s the ADF, which has increased its spending and gained direct access to MPs, despite its controversial stances, including supporting outlawing sexual acts between consenting LGBTQ+ adults and having argued publicly against decriminalising abortion.

The ADF in particular is an influential player on the US Christian right and part of a global network of hardline evangelical groups that were a driving force behind the repeal of Roe v Wade – the supreme court ruling that gave women the constitutional right to abortion and was overturned in 2022.

The ADF’s funding is opaque, using donor-advised funds that allow anonymous donations.

Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said the ADF had “ramped up its spending” in the UK and Europe “aggressively” in recent years and that there was “no transparency” around “where the money’s actually coming from”. She said its relationship with MPs raised “huge concerns”. “Why are politicians openly working with an organisation that has such a hateful agenda?”

Humanists UK has raised alarms about the growing impact of U.S. funding on UK politics, particularly on LGBTQ+ rights, abortion, and faith schools. In November 2023, the group reported on a “triple assault” on abortion rights in Parliament, noting that anti-abortion activism in the UK has increased since the U.S. Roe v. Wade ruling. Humanists UK Chief Executive Andrew Copson warned that the Christian nationalist movement’s increasing investment in the UK represents a serious threat to human rights.

Online Safety Act

Myles Jackman, a UK lawyer specialising in pornography and obscenity cases, has raised concerns about the influence of far-right Christian groups on UK legislation. He warns that such groups, often framing their actions as efforts to protect children and promote decency, may use this guise to push for restrictive laws that infringe on personal freedoms and dictate moral conduct.

Jackman points to Laila Mickelwait, an anti-trafficking activist and leader of Traffickinghub, which targets adult platforms like Pornhub. Mickelwait’s campaign is linked to Exodus Cry, an evangelical group that seeks to abolish pornography entirely.

Jackman highlights the controversial All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) report that labelled all pornography as exploitation, criticising the lack of sex worker perspectives in the report. The APPG consulted groups with ties to Traffickinghub, including the National Centre on Sexual Exploitation, which has a history of anti-LGBTQ+ activism. The MPs who sponsored the report heard from Laila Mickelwait herself in her capacity as a leader of Traffickinghub. And just last month, Mickelwait was back in Westminster, promoting her new book to politicians and policy makers.

Mickelwait has been acclaimed in some UK media. Outlets like the Daily Mail have hailed her ‘Erin Brockovich-style’ in her quest to shut down the Canadian-owned porn-sharing site Pornhub. The Mail details the launch of Mickelwait’s book Takedown: Inside the Fight to Shut Down Pornhub for Child Abuse, Rape and Sex Trafficking which documents her five-year campaign to force the Canadian pornography website out of business.

But what Jackman notes but the Mail doesn’t is her “deep connection to far-right US Christian groups known for their draconian anti-LGBTQ+ agendas and attempts to legislate morality reveal the larger agenda behind her campaign, which Micklewait carefully disguises in her book.”

With the Online Safety Act, which was passed last year and aims to protect children online by enforcing stricter controls on harmful content, Jackman fears the influence of these groups could push for more restrictive laws disguised as child protection measures. He urges vigilance to ensure that legitimate concerns about exploitation and consent are not co-opted to advance broader moral agendas.

“The potential for these far-right Christian groups to influence legislation on our shores is deeply concerning. In the US, their strategy has often been to frame their efforts in terms of child protection and public decency, masking their broader agenda. However, legislation that appears to promote common-sense measures for safeguarding children can be a Trojan horse for restrictive laws that infringe on personal freedoms and dictate moral conduct,” he says.

In Victorian times, the Church of England was sometimes referred to as ‘the Tory party at prayer’ to underline its role in blocking social progress. Prayer though, denotes something contemplative and there is nothing contemplative about the rancorous activities of today’s religious right.

Right-Wing Media Watch – GB News’ breaks new absurdity record with Darren Grimes asking: ‘Should Donald Trump invade the UK’

You have to do a double take when reading the news ticker on GB News. ‘Should Donald Trump invade the UK?’ was the big question posed by none other than Darren Grimes.

Yes, the same Grimes who, back in July 2021, urged people to “unmuzzle” themselves and get back to the office, devotes an entire segment of his show to a tweet he wrote himself. A brilliant idea to solve Britain’s problems, the post read: “How about Trump ‘invades’ the UK, we surrender without a fuss, he takes over with the UK as the 51st state and we forget all about Stalin’s rule? Agreed? Good.”

As the self-styled “not-yet-to-be-cancelled conservative commentator” sat in front of a graphic of his own tweet, he earnestly tried to make his case. “Britons not illegals, power, not poverty, and proper jobs, not yet more diversity and inclusion officers. Honestly, Trump taking over might not be such a bad idea.”

On YouTube, you can watch the full broadcast, and it truly is grim viewing. Grimes lays out his “vision” for Britain under Trump’s leadership, with the US president securing our borders and, apparently, handing back Britons their dignity.

He also takes a swipe at the right’s favourite target Ed Miliband, slamming him for allegedly making us “put on another jumper and eat cold beans so he can walk around smug at COP29,” which he labels the “biggest con since the European Super League tried to convince us it was about the fans.”
Completely bonkers. But Grimes seems genuinely convinced that Trump-style leadership is the answer to all of Britain’s “growing woes.”

Watching this cringe-worthy clip only confirms why GB News will never be taken seriously. In fact, former chairman Andrew Neil, who exited the station over its drift towards “Fox News-style broadcasting,” warned the station would never be profitable in its current form. “What I didn’t want it to become – I could see it was happening, which is why I left almost immediately – was an outlet for bizarre conspiracy theories or anti-vaxxers or, basically, the nutty end of politics,” Neil said.

What’s truly astonishing, though, is that despite the endless parade of bizarre Grimes-style rants, GB News is still somehow hanging around, clogging up our social media feeds and warping the minds of those who actually tune in.

Perhaps Ofcom is just too spineless to do anything about it? One thing’s more certain: if Trump were in charge of the UK, GB News might be the only ‘news’ outlet left with a licence – after all, the rest of the more credible, fact-driven sources would likely be too busy reporting inconvenient truths to stay in existence.

Smear of the Week – Right-wingers’ pathetic and sexist attack on the Chancellor’s qualifications

The right-wing smear machine is firing on all cylinders, with the Chancellor in the firing line. The media outrage about her “explosive” budget – as the Express so delicately put it – hadn’t even begun to settle, before Rachel Reeves found herself embroiled in a ‘scandal’ over her LinkedIn profile.

It’s hard to believe that in a world filled with urgent issues like wars, climate change, and the ethics of assisted dying, people can get so upset about someone’s LinkedIn page.

Who honestly spends their time combing through other people’s career histories online?

Guido Fawkes, that’s who. Yep, the ‘scandal’ was first brought to life by the right-wing blog, suggesting that the Chancellor had been ‘economical with the truth about her career credentials’ by falsely claiming to have worked as an economist at the Bank of Scotland when she had actually worked in ‘retail banking’ at Halifax.

Cue the right-wing frenzy.

In fact, Guido, when bragging about its ‘scoop,’ listed the media that subsequently followed the story, saving me the trouble of researching it myself.

“The mainstream media, including The Telegraph, The Sun, The Mail, The Express, and GB News, have all followed the story. The Timesheadlined with “Pressure grows on Rachel Reeves to explain ‘fake claims’ on CV“, as Tory voices accuse her of “brazen lies,” writes Guido

.

Funny, though, how the blogger left out the tiny detail that all of these outlets lean to the right. Mainstream media? Try right-wing media – now look who’s being ‘economical’ with credentials.

Yes, sigh, Reeves’ career suddenly became the subject of intense scrutiny.

“Rachel Reeves “must resign” after being “caught red-handed in a CV scandal that betrays the British public,” screamed the Conservative Post.

“Rachel Reeves’s real job ‘was customer relations’… rather than an ‘economist’ at Halifax as she had on her CV,” splashed the Daily Mail.

And then there was Katie Hopkins, who was practically bursting with excitement on her YouTube channel, telling Reeves to “piss off and work at McDonald’s,” while gleefully mocking (in a weird South London accent) her LinkedIn as a “work of fiction.”

In fact, Reeves’ accent – she was brought up in Lewisham – has been the butt of right-wing smears before. The former LBC presenter and journalist Iain Dale, a long-standing Tory supporter who withdrew his bid to be the Conservative candidate for Tunbridge Wells after he was found to have said he did not like the town, described Reeves’ “gravelly voice” as reminding him of EastEnders’ Pat Butcher.

But, back to Hopkins, who doesn’t exactly have a reputation for feminist solidarity. After attending an anti-Trump march in 2017, she said:

“I’m a big feminist. I went to the p**sy marches. They were a real disappointment….

“I said to one, ‘why are you here?. She said, ‘climate change’, the next one said, ‘because black lives matter’, the next one ‘LGBT rights’.

“These women were pathetic. They had no one key aim; they had no idea what they were fighting for. They will only ever be a rabble.”

Gaby Hinsliff at the Guardian offered some much-needed feminist solidarity, pointing out the glaring sexism behind the attacks on Reeves.

“Is it just a coincidence that the first female chancellor is also the first to be swarmed by a mob of online truthers, flatly refusing to believe the woman they call “Rachel from accounts” was really employed at the Bank of England doing anything senior? (For the record: yes, she really did work there as an economist; no, going on to work for the less prestigious Halifax Bank of Scotland while scouting for a parliamentary seat doesn’t make her a call centre operative; and yes, you absolutely can rip someone’s budget to shreds without getting unnecessarily hysterical about them changing their LinkedIn entry to clarify a job title after being picked up on it by the Guido Fawkes website),” wrote Hinsliff.

Thank the lord, for a moment there I thought I was alone in seeing the hoo-hah for what it is – a pathetic, sexist attack on a successful woman with a London accent.



Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is author of Right-Wing Watch