Guess Whos Back: A Trump Ally and Brexiteer Disrupts the U.K., Again

The crowd of 800 cheered as pyrotechnics lit up the theater stage in Clacton-on-Sea, a faded English seaside town, and the lyrics of an Eminem song boomed out: “Guess who’s back, back again?”The answer is Nigel Farage, supporter of former President Donald J.Trump, Brexit campaigner and Britain’s best known political disrupter, who leads a new insurgent party that rails against immigration and promises to upend Britain’s impending general election.

Never before elected to the British Parliament, Mr.Farage is running to represent the Clacton area, and opinion surveys suggest he has a strong chance of winning.“The establishment are terrified, the Conservatives are terrified,” Mr.

Farage declared gleefully, referring to the governing party, which trails badly in opinion polls ahead of the July 4 election.Britain was “a broken nation,” he added, in a speech attacking targets ranging from asylum seekers to the BBC.A polarizing, pugilistic figure and a highly skilled communicator, Mr.

Farage, 60, helped the Conservatives to a landslide victory in the last general election by not running candidates from his Brexit Party in certain key areas.This time his plan is rather different.He wants to destroy the Tories by poaching much of their vote, then replace — or take over — the party’s remnants.

Early in the campaign, after a journalist asked if he wanted to merge Reform with the Conservatives, he replied: “More like a takeover, dear boy.”...