EastEnders' executive producer Diederick Santer said he would be playing an "interesting, but possibly irritating character".
And yet, of course, it has come to pass, just as Mr Santer foretold.
This is not to say that Mr Santer's commission will go down as a failure.
It was also that the commission's president, Jacques Santer, was too weak to control them.
Jacques Santer, the commission president, has since ruled that no commissioner should run for elected office.
The former EU President Jacques Santer has been elected as an Euro-MP along with commissioner Emma Bonino.
But in truth the commission had grown rather too full of itself under Mr Santer's predecessor, Jacques Delors.
The first task is to find someone to step into the shoes of the commission president Jacques Santer.
Mr Santer's designated successor, Romano Prodi, a former prime minister of Italy, is obliged to look on impatiently.
The British tried to diminish the commission when they contrived a deliberately weak president for it, Mr Santer.
Many national governments think not indeed, they chose Mr Santer for his unaggressive temperament.
One or two members of the Santer commission, untainted by the scandal in March, will probably reappear in the Prodi version.
Untouched by any of the accusations, Sir Leon was asked by Mr Santer to help liase with investigators on the commission's behalf.
BBC: News | UK Politics | Sir Leon: Britain's old hand in Brussels
Even those who quail at the idea of a United States of Europe might yearn for a stronger hand than Mr Santer's.
S. I've added Ben Santer, Tim Barnett, Ed Cook, Keith Briffa, Malcolm Hughes, Ray Bradley and Phil Jones to your mailing list.
The Santer commission's resignation was a triumph for the parliament: it brandished the threat of a censure vote, and the threat worked.
This raises the next big question: who will come after Mr Santer?
The commission's Mr Santer has been in office for two-and-a-half years, but has deliberately adopted a lower profile than his predecessor, Jacques Delors.
After Mr Delors, a French Socialist, Buggins's turn gave the job to someone from a small country and the political right hence Mr Santer.
Prior to the mass resignation, Sir Leon had resolved to leave Brussels when the Santer commission was due to end its term in December.
BBC: News | UK Politics | Sir Leon: Britain's old hand in Brussels
Even the European Commission's president, Jacques Santer, concedes that a dangerous gulf has opened up between the Union and the concerns of its citizens.
They also took a quick decision to ask Romano Prodi , a former prime minister of Italy, to succeed Jacques Santer as the commission's president.
Instead he has been serving as a vice-president under Jacques Santer.
BBC: News | UK Politics | Sir Leon: Britain's old hand in Brussels
Those debates will now be put on the back burner as the heads of government look to replace Commission President Jacques Santer sooner rather than later.
The parliament is growing stronger, he acknowledges: it all but harried the Santer commission out of office, forcing through the investigation that finally did the job.
It has lost its political authority in recent years, partly because it was such a shambles under Mr Prodi's predecessor, Jacques Santer, who resigned in March.
The fact is that Mr Santer, a jolly, likeable chap with a penchant for good living, is a political lightweight in many ways too nice for the job.
And, with the single currency presumably in place by then and talks with prospective new members under way, the commission will need a president with more political clout than Mr Santer.
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