PM: Gove Has 'Lost It' Over Nazi Comparisons

UK, Wednesday 22 June 2016
David Cameron has told Sky News that Michael Gove has "lost it" after he compared economic experts warning about the impact of Brexit to the Nazis smearing Albert Einstein in the 1930s.
Speaking to Sky's Political Editor Faisal Islam, the Prime Minister hit out at Mr Gove's remarks as he joined political rivals on a battle-bus tour to promise a "bigger, better Britain" if voters opt for continued EU membership on Thursday.
On the Leave side, standard-bearer Boris Johnson is travelling across the country to tell voters that 23 June can be "independence day", as polls indicate the result is on a knife-edge.
Mr Johnson said it was "time to break away from the failing and dysfunctional EU system", telling activists in Maldon, Essex: "I do think that we are on the verge, possibly, of an extraordinary event in the history of our country and indeed in the whole of Europe.
"It's all going to be about getting our supporters out to vote and if we do it I really think tomorrow can be independence day."
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In an interview with Sky, the former London mayor said the vote was about "democracy and about our ability to govern ourselves as a country," warning things will "get steadily worse" unless Britain "takes back control".
A confident sounding PM told Sky he was giving it his all with less than 24 hours to go until polls open - and also hit out at his Cabinet colleague.
He said: "Well it's obviously a very close fight and I'm putting everything into it.
"Today we're going around and actually getting people - nurses, doctors, farmers, small businesses, entrepreneurs - coming onto this bus and explaining why they want to stay in.
"Because there's an amazingly wide range of people, we've got Harriet Harman here, we've got the Labour Party, the Green Party, the Liberal Democrats, a Conservative government, the trade unions, small businesses, large businesses, and a huge amount of expert opinion.
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"And to hear the Leave campaign today sort of comparing independent experts and economists to sort of Nazi sympathisers … I think they have rather lost it.
"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."
In a joint statement, three respected economic think-tanks said "almost all those who have looked seriously" at the consequences of Brexit agreed it would be highly likely to hit the living standards of UK households.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) and Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) said: "In our lifetimes we have never seen such a degree of unanimity among economists on a major policy issue."
They also rejected suggestions from Vote Leave they were biased because they receive EU funding or Government support, stressing: "What we publish and say is not, and never has been, influenced by our funding.
"None of our funding is dependent on being either pro-EU or pro-government - as our frequent vocal criticisms of each in the past should make clear."
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Mr Gove, the Justice Secretary in Mr Cameron's Cabinet, had claimed experts cannot always be trusted, and pointed to the German scientists used to denounce Einstein.
He told radio station LBC: "We have to be careful about historical comparisons, 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 was because he was Jewish."
In a separate interview the PM said Mr Gove had made a "massive mistake", but said it would not be difficult to work with him against post-referendum.
Mr Johnson backed Mr Gove in the wake of the comments, telling BBC Radio 4: "Michael Gove has run an absolutely fantastic campaign and he is right in what he says, I think.
"Some of these experts, they totally failed to foresee the crash of 2008. They got it 100% wrong."