Philip Booth's op-ed in today's Telegraph (UK) recalls the time when 364 British economists signed a letter to the Times bashing Margaret Thatcher's economic policies, asserting that they had "no basis in economic theory or supporting evidence," and the like. An excerpt:

"The whole of the academic establishment - including some luminaries of today - stood against the government. The 364 included Third-Way guru Anthony Giddens; the current Governor of the Bank of England; Monetary Policy Committee member Stephen Nickell; and former and future Nobel Prize winners. Only a brave few stood out against them. Indeed, it is said that Mrs Thatcher was asked in heated debate in the Commons whether she could even name two economists who agreed with her. She replied that she could: Patrick Minford and Alan Walters. As the story goes on, her civil servant said when she returned to Downing Street: 'It is a good job he did not ask you to name three.'"

You can download Booth's new 76-page monograph, Can 364 economists all be wrong?, as a PDF file here.