MICHAEL Gove, the leading Brexiter, has publicly apologised for comparing economic experts warning about Brexit with the Nazis who smeared Albert Einstein in the 1930s.

The embarrassing eve-of-poll move came after David Cameron, in his strongest attack yet on his friend and cabinet colleague, claimed the Scot had "lost it" and had made a "massive mistake" in drawing the comparison.

Apologising for the comments, which he made on LBC radio on Tuesday, Mr Gove said: "Yesterday, I was asked a question by Iain Dale about the predictions of doom for the economy. I answered, as I often do, with a historical analogy. It was clumsy and inappropriate.

"Obviously, I did not mean to imply anything about the motives of those who have spoken out in favour of staying in the EU.

"Throughout the campaign I've avoided making personal attacks; I'm sorry for speaking so clumsily and apologise for giving offence.”

The Justice Secretary added: “Britain will be more prosperous if we end our connection to the euro project and I should have answered this question directly."

His apology came shortly after support was expressed by fellow Leave campaigner Boris Johnson, who himself courted controversy just weeks ago by mentioning how the EU and Adolf Hitler wanted to create a European superstate albeit by different means.

The former London mayor said: "Michael Gove has run an absolutely fantastic campaign and he is right in what he says; some of these experts, they totally failed to foresee the crash of 2008."

Mr Gove sparked outrage when he claimed experts could not always be trusted and pointed to the German scientists used to denounce Einstein to prove his point.

Noting how people had to be careful about making historical comparisons, the frontbencher nonetheless then said: “But Albert Einstein during the 1930s was denounced by the German authorities for being wrong and his theories were denounced and one of the reasons, of course, he was denounced[for] was because he was Jewish."

The Secretary of State’s comments came after the group, Economists for Remain, put out a statement by 12 Nobel laureates and more than 175 UK-based economists warning that leaving the EU was a danger to the British economy.

The group's organiser, Eric Beinhocker, an economist at Oxford University, said: "Independent fact-based experts are essential to the functioning of a democracy. It is one thing for Michael Gove to disagree with us but it is another for him to call us Nazis.

"Do we really want political leaders who denigrate experts because they challenge their political views?” he asked.

Mr Beinhocker added: "It may be inconvenient for Michael Gove but the independent IMF and OECD and the 12 Nobel laureates and over 175 UK economists who signed our statement all say the same thing: Brexit would hurt growth and jobs, raise prices, and leave less money for government services."

The Prime Minister also criticised Mr Gove for his choice of words, telling Sky News: "To hear the Leave campaign today sort of comparing independent experts and economists to Nazi sympathisers…they have rather lost it.”

He went on: "These people are independent; economists who have won Nobel prizes, business leaders responsible for creating thousands of jobs, institutions that were set up after the war to try to provide independent advice. It is right to listen."

Mr Cameron also told LBC: “I'm afraid the Leave campaign here are making a massive mistake."

Meantime, sharing a campaign platform with the PM in Bristol, Sir John Major made yet another strong attack on the Leave campaign, branding its supporters the “gravediggers of our prosperity,” and insisting that if Britain left the EU, then “they must account for what they have done”.

In a clear swipe at Mr Gove and his fellow Brexiter Boris Johnson, the former premier said Mr Cameron had faced abuse from people "we might have expected better from".

Quitting the EU, claimed Sir John, would not stem immigration but risked creating a “broken Britain,” possibly with Scotland voting to become independent.

He said Brexit would diminish the UK’s international standing, adding: “A truly Great Britain shrunk down to a little England perhaps without Scotland, perhaps with a grumpy Wales, and certainly with a Northern Ireland divided from the south by the border, the controls that would then be the edge of the European Union."