Count Binface runs against Reform Party’s Farage in UK election

0:00This week on Sources and Methods, is Iran trying to hack U.S. water systems. What is it that you can do to potentially, quote unquote, scare the American people? Water is one of those things. It's a necessity of life. We unpack the week's biggest national security news on sources and methods. Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get podcasts. Today on State of the World, the British election where the frontrunner's main rival is a comedian wearing a trash can on his head.

0:38You're listening to State of the World from NPR, the day's most vital international stories, up close where they're happening. It's Tuesday, August 11th. I'm Christine Arismeth. In the news business, we sometimes call August the silly season. Schools out. Congress is on recess. Offbeat stories often make news. In England, a rather unique politician is grabbing headlines this summer. He goes by the moniker Count Binface. And he's running in an election this Thursday. Here's NPR's Lauren Frayer. 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.

1:22And so on election night, when votes are counted... The Conservative Party candidate, 25 ,000. On stage next to candidates from mainstream parties... The official monster-raving loony party, 125. There are often a handful of satirical ones. Hughes, David, Stephen, commonly known as Lord Buckethead. 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. My name's Count Binface, intergalactic space warrior, leader of the Recyclones from planet Sigma-9. 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.

2:15Binface's real name is John 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. Oh, it's hot here, partly because of my armor and partly because you're cooking the planet with human made climate change. You idiots. Speaking through a slit in the front, Binface rattles off his campaign promises. Building one affordable house, nationalizing Adele. Cutting your taxes, he says, and raising everyone else's.

2:54capping 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. Do you want to be using the urinal and have another human blasting your bits? 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. Try your luck today. 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 rerun for his own seat, saying the establishment is out to get him.

3:39It's a chance to stick two fingers up to the entire establishment, to frankly tell them where to go. 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. I would not accept five million pound donations from crypto billionaires on your planet. That message resonates with some voters. One poll shows Brits overall favour Binface over Farage. But when NPR asked voters in Clacton...

4:22Nigel Farage is obviously very popular with Clacton people. The cost of living is going up and up and up. Maybe Count Binface would do more for Clacton because what he's actually shown now is how laughable British politics has become. To be running for MP, you need to do something good for country. It's not a joke. It's not a laugh. That was Adrian Rogers, Helen Matthews, Cameron Jangdari and Mohammed Najeeb. One person who did laugh was pollster John Curtis when I phoned him to ask about this candidate with a bin on his head. Look, if you don't like Nigel Farage, you have to decide what you're going to do.

5:00He predicts turnout will be low, Farage will win, but that bin face will get a fair number of protest votes. That's to be celebrated because the UK 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. Account Binface is here to prove a point, but he also might do well enough to get his deposit back this time. Lauren Fryer, NPR News in Clacton-on-Sea, England.

5:42That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening. Attention! A PSA from Shortwave, NPR science podcast. You need to be paying more attention to your poop. I really do think that this deep stigma we have about talking about pooping is tied to these early-onset colorectal cancer cases. What to watch out for and how to decode the secret messages hidden in your poop. On Shortwave, listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. French fries, tater tots, Colombian ahiaco. Potatoes are beloved everywhere. And yet... They're always kind of denigrated. There's a long history of racializing potatoes.

6:25How the potato became an insult around the world. Listen to NPR's Code Switch podcast in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.