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Altrincham MP has managed to pursue his 13-year parliamentary career without crossing the threshold of the Welsh Grand Committee. Until now.

The Tory backbencher found himself chairing the first meeting of the committee since the general election, the first to be held under a non-Labour government for 13 years (The last time it met in such circumstances William Hague was Secretary of State for Wales).

The Welsh Liberal Democrat MPs sat on the same side of the committee room as the Conservatives but so far away they were barely in the same postcode.

Mr Brady may come to regret his new role, chairing a committee with few powers other than to discuss things - a political talking shop. It consists of the 40 Welsh MPs plus the odd co-opted Tory, so Labour has a clear majority.

He had to be prompted by a clerk for some of the MPs' names and his authority was challenged openly by several Labour MPs.

Wayne David was asked to withdraw the allegation that Cheryl Gillan said something untrue.

He refused on the grounds that "what she said was untrue". Mr Brady meekly withdrew the request rather than reach for the red card.

Labour MP after Labour MP popped up to raise "points of order" in what Cheryl Gillan said was "play-acting" and an orchestrated attempt to disrupt the committee.

So Mr Brady refused to take more points of order, only to be told by Chris Bryant: "You have to take a point of order, it says in Erskine May you have to." He stopped short of singing "you don't know what you're doing" but you get the drift.

At one point, Labour MPs were passing around a copy of Erskine May (the parliamentary Bible) while checking its small print. Huw Irranca-Davies openly shouted "nonsense" at Mr Brady's rulings. Alun Michael, one of three former Welsh Secretaries present, told the chair: "You are not conducting this committee in an orderly way".

Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander became the first Scottish MP to address the committee, only for his appearance to be mired in a dispute about the Wales Office's failure to let its opponents know about it in advance.

Peter Hain and Elfyn Llwyd said they had only been told at 0855 this morning - by e-mail, not always the quickest way to alert Mr Llwyd to news. Chris Bryant said he learned the news first via the media.

Cheryl Gillan said her office had rung Peter Hain's office at 0830 but received no reply. Mr Hain was so cross he refused to put any questions to Mr Alexander.

The Neath MP asked Mrs Gillan why she didn't tell him when their paths crossed in a Commons bar last night. She said she didn't want to disturb his "convivial" drink.

Wayne David attempted to get the meeting adjourned, but Mr Brady, rather weary after half an hour of largely procedural arguments, refused to put it to the vote.

Fortunately, perhaps, for Mr Brady, the committee only meets rarely. It will resume this afternoon under a different chair who may or may not be more amenable to a request to call the whole thing off.

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