LEILA FADEL, HOST:
There's an election in England on Thursday with a unique candidate. It's a comedian with a trash can on his head. NPR's Lauren Frayer explains what's going on in U.K. politics.
LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: The bar is relatively low to run for Parliament here. You just pay a deposit of several hundred dollars, which you get back if you win 5% of the vote. And so on election night, when votes are counted...
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: The Conservative Party candidate, 25,000.
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FRAYER: ...On stage next to candidates from mainstream parties...
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: The Official Monster Raving Loony Party, 125.
FRAYER: ...There are often a handful of satirical ones.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Hughes, David Stephen, commonly known as Lord Buckethead.
FRAYER: Lord Buckethead wears a Darth Vader-type costume. There's another candidate who's registered his name as None Of The Above. The most famous, though, is Count Binface...
COUNT BINFACE: My name's Count Binface, intergalactic space warrior, leader of the Recyclons from Planet Sigma XI.
FRAYER: ...Who says he's from an alien planet, wears a trash bin on his head and has a YouTube channel of his own music videos.
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COUNT BINFACE: (Singing) 'Cause this election is kind of rubbish, and rubbish is my name.
FRAYER: Binface's real name is Jon Harvey, a 46-year-old comedian with an Oxford classics degree. He'd only go on record in character. NPR met him in a TV studio in central London. He was in full costume - a black bodysuit, silver cape and a metal garbage can on his head - in the middle of a heat wave.
COUNT BINFACE: Oh, it's hot here, partly 'cause of my armor and partly because you're cooking the planet with human-made climate change. You idiots.
FRAYER: Speaking through a slit in the front, Binface rattles off his campaign promises.
COUNT BINFACE: Building one affordable house, nationalizing Adele.
FRAYER: Cutting your taxes, he says, and raising everyone else's, capping the price of croissants and moving the hand dryer in the men's room of a certain pub to what he calls a more sensible location.
COUNT BINFACE: Do you want to be using the urinal and have another human blasting your bits?
FRAYER: For years, Binface has run against prime ministers, getting only a handful of votes. But in this election, he's forecast to win more votes than ever before. The race is here in Clacton.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Try your luck today.
FRAYER: An economically ailing town with a seaside pier and amusement park rides represented in Parliament by Nigel Farage, the far-right anti-immigrant Brexit campaigner. He called a special election to re-run for his own seat, saying the establishment is out to get him.
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NIGEL FARAGE: It's a chance to stick two fingers up to the entire establishment, to frankly tell them where to go.
FRAYER: Rival parties call this a stunt to distract from how he's under investigation for failing to declare millions in donations from crypto billionaires. Farage says he wasn't required to declare them. Other parties have nevertheless refused to field candidates, leaving Binface as Farage's main competitor.
COUNT BINFACE: I would not accept 5-million-pound donations from crypto billionaires on your planet.
FRAYER: That message resonates with some voters. One poll shows Brits overall favor Binface over Farage. But when NPR asked voters in Clacton...
ADRIAN ROGERS: Nigel Farage is obviously very popular with Clacton people.
HELEN MATTHEWS: The cost of living is going up and up and up.
CAMERON JANGDHARI: Maybe Count Binface would do more for Clacton because what he's actually showing, though, is how laughable British politics has become.
MOHAMMED NAJEEB: To be running for MP, you need to do something good for country. It's not a joke. It's not a laugh.
FRAYER: That was Adrian Rogers (ph), Helen Matthews (ph), Cameron Jangdhari (ph) and Mohammed Najeeb (ph). One person who did laugh...
JOHN CURTICE: (Laughter).
FRAYER: ...Was pollster John Curtice when I phoned him to ask about this candidate with a bin on his head.
CURTICE: Look; if you don't like Nigel Farage, you have to decide what you're going to do.
FRAYER: He predicts turnout will be low, Farage will win, but that Binface will get a fair number of protest votes.
COUNT BINFACE: That's to be celebrated because the U.K. is the only country in your planet where you can stand on that stage on election night and whoever it is - and you hold them to account. Literally, in my case.
FRAYER: Ah-Count (ph) Binface is here to prove a point, but he also might do well enough to get his deposit back this time.
Lauren Frayer, NPR News in Clacton-on-Sea, England. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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