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Former London Mayor Boris Johnson has led the "Brexit" campaign.

(The Associated Press)

"Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?"

So asks the referendum that has roiled Great Britain the past four months. Britons are voting today on the question, with results expected on Friday.

Those seeking a "Brexit" -- that is, Britain's exit from the EU -- say it's the only way the country can take control of immigration and reassert Parliament's authority. Those campaigning for Britain to stay in Europe insist that membership in the 28-member organization greatly benefits the U.K.'s economy and political influence.

Prime Minister David Cameron called the referendum in February to silence the persistent anti-EU carpers, figuring he would score a thumping victory. But polls have shown that the vote likely will be extremely close.

One big reason the "leave" campaign has been so successful: former London Mayor Boris Johnson, who broke with Cameron -- a fellow Conservative -- to lead the "leave" effort. (Cameron had thought his chief opponent would be the uncouth, bumbling UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage.)

The verbose, charmingly unkempt Johnson, 52, has been described as Britain's Donald Trump; he's stoked anti-immigrant hate and shown little regard for the truth during the "Brexit" campaign.

American Erik Bidenkap, who's working in London, says the similarities between Trump's presidential campaign in the U.S. and the "Brexit" campaign in the U.K. are stark. "In America, politicians are saying, 'We're losing to China, we're losing to Mexico, they're stealing our jobs,'" Bidenkap told NPR. "Here in Great Britain, same thing. You've got these open economic borders, this open economic zone with the rest of the continent and people are feeling like they're losing their jobs, they're not able to sell their goods at a fair price."

Johnson's approach to the "Brexit" argument has infuriated many Britons, and not just his political opponents. "Are we prepared to tell lies, to spread hate and xenophobia just to win a campaign? For me that's a step too far," said Sayeeda Warsi, a Conservative House of Lords member and long-time EU critic.

No one who's followed Johnson's career is surprised by his rhetoric. The former journalist has always had a tetchy relationship with the truth.

"Imagine ... if Stephen Glass were a plausible candidate for president of the United States, and that's not far from what we have in Johnson," a correspondent for New York magazine wrote. Glass is the former New Republic writer who rose to journalistic infamy for inventing stories.

Johnson, like Glass, was fired for his journalistic sins: back in the early 1990s he was the Telegraph's Brussels correspondent, where he wrote scathing, witty articles about the incompetence of EU bureaucrats. At least some of the stories were true. Johnson soon turned to politics and was a popular mayor of the nation's capital. One of the secrets to his success is one Trump understands all too well. Wrote the Toronto Star:

Johnson "has managed to use his disarranged, slightly comical hair as a helmet, shielding him from more serious scrutiny. It lets him come across as an unconventional politician..."

Oddsmakers in Britain have given Johnson 9-4 odds to become Britain's next prime minister. His achieving this ambition is, of course, entirely dependent on Britain voting to leave the European Union. He's taken a big, all-or-nothing gamble. If "Brexit" fails, Cameron will likely remain as prime minister and surely will cast Johnson out.

In the wake of the brutal murder of MP Jo Cox by a crazed anti-EU activist last week, the momentum appears to have shifted toward the "stay" camp. But everyone still expects the vote to be very tight in what has been an unusually mean-spirited campaign.

Said Bidenkap of his first up-close exposure to British politics: "I expected there would be more civility, politeness, I guess."

-- Douglas Perry