Re: Seriously...
"[...] did some weirdo puritans took over the government?"
Not just the UK. There seems to be a trend in many Western countries. Demagogues are playing on the fears and failed aspirations of a large number of people. It looks somewhat like a rerun of the 1930s on many fronts.
In many cases conservatives are trying to turn the clock back to when their religious dogma was effectively the law of their land.