A watched PROC never boils - except when required under Standing Order 106(4)

“… Within five days of the receipt, by the clerk of a standing committee, of a request signed by any four members of the said committee, the Chair of the said committee shall convene such a meeting provided that forty-eight hours’ notice is given of the meeting. For the purposes of this section, the reasons for convening such a meeting shall be stated in the request.”

But wait! What if the committee doesn’t have a chair, because – well, we won’t get into exactly why it doesn’t have a chair. It just doesn’t. Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown. Anyway, I’m not sure what the scenario would be for bringing back a committee without going through the chair, but it can’t be impossible, can it? I mean, that would mean the government could just shut down every single Conservative-chaired committee, and that just seems awfully undemocratic. Tyrannical, even.