I told Butler I had seen more economic protest on this visit to the UK. More anger and fear than any time in recent memory, he said. It's that kind of sentiment out there today that they're fed up with politicians. That's why it's Conservative Party elected Liz Truss because she's not a routine politician. And people voted for Brexit because they were fed up with the European way of doing things. He says: 'If you have to go onto the streets, you've lost the arguments'
Economists and politicians have turned him into a mascot for free-market ideology. Some on the left say the right has badly misread him. Prepare for a very Smithy tug of war. (Part 2 of “In Search of the Real Adam Smith.”)