LONDON, Aug. 16 -- The intergalactic space warrior who runs for British Parliament wearing a rubbish bin on his head stood at the declaration podium in Clacton on Saturday morning and told a small crowd he was the only candidate who had bothered to show up. He may have had a point.

Nigel Farage, who won the Clacton by-election with 63.3 percent of the vote, did not attend his own victory announcement. Essex Police had warned him of what they described as an "organised campaign to disrupt and degrade the result." Count Binface, who has stood in numerous British elections since 2019 and whose legal name has never been publicly disclosed, was left to collect his 9,455 votes, deliver his concession speech, and do so into a largely empty room...