David Cameron has launched an extraordinary attack on his cabinet colleagues Michael Gove and Boris Johnson accusing them of telling “total untruths” to “con” the public into voting to leave the European Union.

Amid signs of deep concern in the Remain camp that momentum is gathering behind Leave, Mr Cameron ripped up his “self-denying ordinance” not to attack fellow Conservatives to accuse his colleagues of “peddling nonsense”.

Mr Cameron revealed that he only decided to call the press conference while watching the news last night. The last-minute move suggests that the Prime Minister is increasingly nervous that he is losing control of a campaign which has been focused for the last week on immigration and crime – both strong areas for Vote Leave.

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Perhaps taking a leaf out of his former election strategist’s Lynton Crosby’s playbook of what he once described as “throwing a dead cat on the table” Mr Cameron attempted to move the debate back on the economy by launching a strong and personal on his Cabinet colleagues.

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"The Leave campaign [is] resorting to total untruths to con people into taking a leap in the dark,” he said.

“It's irresponsible and it's wrong and it's time that the Leave campaign was called out on the nonsense that they are peddling."

He accused the Brexit side of “complacency and nonchalance” about the consequences of EU withdrawal, after senior spokesmen including Justice Secretary Michael Gove suggested voters should dismiss the assessment of economic experts.

Mr Cameron asked whether you would build a bridge or a house without expert advice and then said that warnings about the repercussions of Brexit from experts including the World Trade Organisation and the chairman of the US Federal Reserve amounted to a “reality check” for voters.

He added that in the past few days alone Vote Leave had made untrue claims that Britain could be liable for future bailouts of eurozone states and could lose its rebate and its veto powers; could be forced to increase its contribution to the EU budget and be powerless to stop the creation of an EU army. And he said that Vote Leave estimates of the money that could be saved by quitting the 28-nation bloc were contradicted by “every credible economic organisation”.

He said: “Credible experts warning about risks to our economic security on one side and a series of assertions that turn out to be completely untrue on the other.”

In a message to voters about the importance of the 23 June vote, Mr Cameron said: “It matters for your job, it matters for the prices that you pay in the supermarket each week, it matters for the mortgage you pay or your chances for getting on the housing ladder, it matters for your pension, it matters for the price of your family holiday, it matters for the money that we have available to spend on your local hospital or your local school.

“And it matters for your children and your grandchildren, the kind of opportunities that they will have and the kind of country that they will grow up in.

"All of this depends on the strength of our economy and I believe – along with this collection of independent experts – that our economy is stronger inside this organisation.

"So listen to the experts. Don't stand on the sidelines. This matters for you. There are no second chances, no re-runs. So register to vote and vote Remain on 23 June.”