Crosses and Bible verses dominated the Tommy Robinson rally. Is a new Christian right on the rise?

Reporting from inside the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ demonstration, David Campanale asked Christians why they were there. He explores what they said and asks whether a religious revolution is taking place

By chance or providence, Tommy Robinson’s march fell on the same weekend that Christians were marking the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

Celebrated for generations, 14 September remembers the claimed discovery by Constantine’s mother Helena of the True Cross and the nails that crucified Christ in 326AD.

Fragments of the Cross were thereafter carried by Christian warriors into battle; with the hope they would bring divine favour. Are the warriors of the Christian Right in Britain expecting the same thing?

It could be said Christendom began when Constantine had a vision in Rome of a cross in the sky on the eve of the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312 AD. He saw on it the inscription ”In hoc signo vinces” - “In this sign, you will conquer”. Across Britain since summer began, ‘Operation Raise the Colours’ has seen the flag of St George and the cross it bears appended to lampposts or daubed on roundabouts and walls. And this raising of the ‘sign that conquers’ came to its natural crescendo on Saturday.

Attending the march

As I walked with the Tommy Robinson crowd from Blackfriars Bridge through London’s Southbank, I was surrounded by people wearing Crusader outfits, carrying flags of St George, or waving Union flags. Welsh dragons and Scottish saltires were also prominent, as were flags with Bible verses such as ‘Jesus the Way, the Truth, the Life’, or ‘Jesus is Lord’ and ‘Turn back to God’.

A consistent theme emerged from these bearers of the cross. They told me they…