Dr Laurence Buckman has built his reputation on bulldog spirit and trademark colourful quotes, such as his famous dismissal of polyclinics as ‘doughnuts of death'.
So in a year when it's been the fashion for GP leaders to be bold, brash and visible, it's been strange to watch Dr Buckman play second fiddle to Dr Gerada.
Has the BMA's internal wrangling over where exactly it stands on the health bill cramped Dr Buckman's singular style?
Or could the truth be stranger still? Might the man who is famously pugnacious be an unlikely – and closet – commissioning enthusiast?
