The Prime Minister, declaring that he had become a born-again science enthusiast after being a “refusenik” at school, said that scientific and political leaders needed to face down the “outrageous distortion” of opponents and help people to dispel the myths, calm the fears and make moral judgments on the facts.

Talking about campaigns against GM foods (in which the Prince of Wales has been prominent), MMR, animal experiments and stem-cell research, he said that they must reject the “irrational public debate” encouraged by a powerful and vocal lobby. Standing up to it was difficult because it was a classic example of the struggle between short-term politics and long-term public good. If governments had not taken on animal rights extremists they would have lost essential scientific research.

It would be more difficult to win the argument in the genuine areas of intellectual controversy. Mr Blair said that the nuclear power debate had been reopened only just in time and there was no way to guarantee energy security or cleaner power without it.

“But the misconceptions, often born of the most outrageous distortion of fact by campaigners, who in accusing others of a lack of scruuple show precious little of it themselves, can be so pervasive. They can easily take hold.”

Mr Blair, speaking in Oxford, made no reference to the Prince of Wales. His spokesman said later that he had not been talking about individuals but suggested that the public had not been engaged early enough in the GM debate.

He added: “We need our young people today to embrace science enthusiastically, to realise that challenges like climate change can only be beaten by motivated and dedicated scientists, and to understand that a career in science today is not a life all spent in a laboratory but has the best business and job prospects the modern world can offer. Science today abounds both with noble causes and with glittering prizes: reach out for them.”

One of the most important steps was to make science popular again so that its leading figures were as famous as footballers and film stars. “In the 19th century, working civil engineers like Isambard Kingdom Brunel were national figures, not for writing about science but for what they achieved.

“We need our scientists today to be as celebrated and famous as our sportsmen and women, our actors, our business entrepreneurs. Scientists are stars too. This is Britain’s path to the future, lit by the brilliant light of science.”

George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, accused the Government of stifling innovation with central control and failing on science teaching. Speaking as he visited high-technology businesses in Cambridge, Mr Osborne said: “Tony Blair talks about encouraging more schoolchildren to study science. But after nine years of the Labour Government, we have seen science driven out of our schools and universities.”

POPULAR SCIENCE

RAYMOND BAXTER Attracted audiences of up to 10 million as the original presenter of the BBC’S Tommorow’s World from 1965 to 1977, where he introduced the pocket calcluator and microwave.

MAGNUS PYKE Famous for eccentric chatter and windmilling arms, presented the science programme Don’t Ask Me from 1974 to 1978 and won an award as television’s most promising newcomer — aged 67.

HEINZ WOLFF Born in Berlin, he arrived in Britain on the day war broke out in 1939 and became best known for his television and radio work, including the 1970s television series The Great Egg Race.

DAVID BELLAMY Botanist and broadcaster with more than 400 television shows to his name. In 2004 he courted controversy for his dismissal of man-made global warming as “poppycock”.

SIR PATRICK MOORE Has presented The Sky At Night since April 1957. His lifelong passion for astronomy began during a childhood illness when he chanced upon his mother’s copy of The Story of the Solar System.

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