A town council meeting which descended into chaos — with councillors trading insults and ultimately getting booted off the Zoom call — has become an unlikely internet sensation.
After clips of the Handforth Parish Council meeting were uploaded to Twitter, it was soon shared thousands of times.
The name of one of the meeting’s participants, Jackie Weaver, became the fourth trending item on Thursday evening.
The meeting on December 10 was the second time chair Brian Tolver had been removed, having previously been evicted from the earlier 7pm Planning and Environment Committee.
i’ve never missed in person meetings more than i did watching this parish council meeting descend into chaos pic.twitter.com/I75zi1fIK5
— janine (@janinemas0n) February 4, 2021
“You have no authority here”
The 7.30pm extraordinary meeting began with an unseen councillor mumbling “f*** off” under their breath.
Mr Tolver refused to recognise the legitimacy of both meetings.
He told meeting clerk Jackie Weaver, from the Cheshire Association of Local Councils, to “stop talking” and “you have no authority here”.
“And then I said ‘no, you can’t elect a chair because I’m VICE CHAIR, I take CHARGE, read your standing ORDERS and LEARN THEM.” pic.twitter.com/cwWoxlZCUx
— Mollie Goodfellow (@hansmollman) February 4, 2021
In response, Jackie Weaver removed Mr Tolver from the Zoom call and placed him in a virtual waiting room.
Following Mr Tolver’s eviction, vice-chair Aled Brewerton, joined by an older unnamed gentleman, proceeded to yell at Ms Weaver to “read the standing orders”.
When fellow councillor Susan Moore calls for civility, the meeting erupted into semi-hysterical laughter and two further councillors, Mr Brewerton and Barry Burkill were removed.
There was then confusion over Mr Tolver’s Zoom username, in which he had labelled himself the “clerk”.
Ms Weaver said: “The chairman simply declared himself ‘clerk’ and notified everybody of the case.
Am busily writing Jackie Weaver into the next Thursday Murder Club novel.
— Richard Osman (@richardosman) February 4, 2021
“Laughing hyena“
“There is no way of stopping him from calling himself clerk. Please refer to me as Britney Spears from now on.”
Those remaining voted to not allow the three men back into the meeting, with Cllr Cynthia Samson likening one to a “laughing hyena”.
The clips were a hit with Twitter users, with more than five thousand retweets and 32,000 likes.
Richard Osman tweeted: “Am busily writing Jackie Weaver into the next Thursday Murder Club novel.”
Presenter Steph McGovern said: “But what happens next???”
Parish the Thought with the cast of Handforth Parish Council.
— Alex Groves (@alexgroves) February 4, 2021
Will Jackie Weaver return in next weeks episode? pic.twitter.com/fgPedM8UKv
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