Boris Johnson has been condemned for comparing EU ambitions to rule the continent with a single government to Hitler's attempt to dominate the continent.
The presumed head of the Vote Leave campaign said previous leaders such as Hitler and Napoleon attempted a similar goal, albeit using different methods.
"Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically. The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods," he said in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph.
"But fundamentally what is lacking is the eternal problem, which is that there is no underlying loyalty to the idea of Europe."
Labour former cabinet minister Yvette Cooper immediately rounded on London's former Mayor accusing him of playing a "nasty, nasty game".
"The more he flails around with this kind of hysterical claim, the more he exposes his shameful lack of judgement, his willingness to play the most divisive cynical politics, and the emptiness of his arguments," she said.
"One week it is dog whistle attacks on President Obama. Now he is trying to liken the institution that has kept peace on our continent for decades with Hitler, who pursued the genocide of millions of innocent people."
The row erupted as UKIP leader Nigel Farage backed Mr Johnson to succeed David Cameron if there is a vote to leave the EU in the 23 June referendum.
In an interview with The Mail On Sunday, Mr Farage said: "Boris goes on surprising people. They say he can't do this, he's a joker - it's like Ronnie Reagan. Could he do it? Yes. If you'd asked me six months ago I'd have said no but I've changed my mind."
In comments seen to stoke tensions within the Conservative Party over the referendum, Mr Farage said he could even envisage a situation in which he could work for Mr Johnson in government.
Mr Cameron has insisted that he will carry on regardless of the result, but many MPs believe he will have no choice but to resign if the country rejects his call to Remain.
Meanwhile, a new poll reveals Mr Johnson is trusted on Europe by twice as many voters as Mr Cameron.
ComRes asked 2,043 people who was "more likely to tell the truth about the EU" in a poll for The Independent and the Sunday Mirror.
Some 45% opted for Leave campaigner Mr Johnson, while 21% said Mr Cameron, who wants the UK to remain in the 28-nation bloc.
By a smaller margin, 39% to 24%, campaigners for Leave generally were considered "more likely to tell the truth" than campaigners for Remain.
The poll found 33% thought they would be personally better off if Britain stayed in the EU, whereas 29% believed they would be better off if we left and 38% said they did not know.
Speaking at an event in his Witney constituency in Oxfordshire on Saturday, Mr Cameron warned voters of an "immediate and sustained hit that we would suffer to our economy" if the UK left the EU.
But Mr Johnson said Britain could survive on its own because it was the fifth biggest economy in the world.
He said it was a "David and Goliath fight" with the "little platoons against the big battalions" but that Vote Leave had "passion and courage".
He said: "I am telling you that if we vote leave on 23 June and take back control of this country's democracy and economy we can can prosper and thrive as never before."
The Electoral Commission has announced an eight-page "impartial information booklet" is being sent to all 28 million households in the UK to help them participate in the referendum.
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