Macpherson had enjoyed a successful business career, including periods variously as the Managing Director and Chairman of the Mallinson-Denny Group, as a director of Brooke Bond Group, Scottish Mutual Assurance Society and the National Coal Board, and as Chairman of Annington Holdings plc and Boustead plc.
While with Mallinson Denny, he was a member of the National Board for Prices and Incomes between 1965 and 1967 [REF].