Patrick Minford: maverick economist who inspired Truss and Thatcher

Patrick Minford: ‘One of the things that is so sad about the Treasury is that it has lost the capacity to model the economy and any interest in doing so.’ Photograph: Matt Crossick/Empics Entertainment

When Liz Truss was asked by the BBC’s Nick Robinson whether she could name any economists who thought cutting taxes was the right medicine for the economy, Boris Johnson’s soon-to-be successor replied: “Patrick Minford.”

It was a case of history repeating itself, coming four decades after the same question was put to another Conservative prime minister. After 364 economists wrote to the Times attacking the 1981 budget as deflationary the then Labour leader, Michael Foot, asked Margaret Thatcher whether she could name two economics professors who supported her strategy.