Nigel Farage vs. Count Binface: Britain’s very strange special election, explained

Voters in the British constituency of Clacton will have a bizarre choice to make when they cast their ballots in a special election on Thursday.

Do they lend their support to one of the U.K.’s most well-known but controversial political leaders — or to a self-described “intergalactic space warrior” with peculiar headgear that resembles a trash can?

Either way, it’s crunch time in the battle between Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, and Count Binface, the alter ego of comic Jon Harvey.

The sheer eccentricity of it all has made the contest in Clacton, a coastal town about 70 miles northeast of London, into a global story.

But what, exactly, is going on?

Who are these people?

Farage is best known as the driving force behind Brexit, the U.K.’s departure from the European Union as precipitated by a 2016 referendum.

A former commodities trader, he had been treated as a political oddity in the early phase of his career in the 1980s and early 1990s, when his Euro-skepticism prompted his departure from the Conservative Party and the idea of Britain leaving the EU seemed fanciful.

But through a combination of persistence, a populist “everyman” persona and deft media skills, he helped it happen in the end. He resigned as leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) soon after the 2016 referendum, asserting that he had achieved his goal.

He later returned to politics with a new party, Reform UK. The party is characterized by a nationalistic tone and super-hawkish approach to immigration. It has risen in the polls to become an existential threat to the storied Conservative Party, with which it competes for right-of-center votes. Farage is also an ally of President Trump.

Binface, for his part, began his career as a novelty candidate almost a decade ago — in a slightly........

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