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A lecture in a uni I know said that it's not so much religion but conservatism that drives things like anti-LGBT rights, anti-abortion access etc.
She didn't mention the power thing, but it wouldn't surprise me TBH. The old Greeks already mentioned that religion was very useful for the rulers.
It's most definitely a factor in politics in NI and in the past in ROI: The RCC had a lot of power which is now slowly waning, the DUP it still up there with it's right-wing USA Christianity.
As a social liberal person I guess I'll never get it, but I'm not that scared of changes.
JWestland
A lot of Tories are also active Christians. They have a shared set of values: belief in the superiority of the traditional family unit, resistance to change, a desire to return society to an imagined 1950s idyll of vicars on bicycles riding between village fetes past cricket matches etc. etc.
Both the church and the Tory party have fought to keep power in its traditional place - in the hands of the rich and the upper classes. Remember that historically the church was effectively a tool to keep the peasants in their place and encourage them to behave/not overthrow the gentry.
Also worth pointing out that the Church of England was started by Henry VII, a despotic tyrant. Just sayin'.