Perhaps most important to his credentials for the presidency was his promotion to the post of first deputy prime minister in charge of national projects.
During the debate, Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski who is chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Promotion of First Past the Post, said that the referendum was a waste of time.
He's just passed the four-year mark in his post, following his battlefield promotion on the day Fred Goodwin departed, taking his notorious pension with him.