Revealed: The real reason behind THAT explosive Handforth Parish Council row – as its star Jackie Weaver admits she DIDN’T have authority (and it’s not the first time things …

Jackie Weaver has become a household name overnight after being at the cente of a spat at Handforth Parish Council’s planning meeting that saw her eject the chairman from a Zoom call after he rejected her authority

Until today Handforth’s claim to fame was being home to one of Britain’s biggest M&S superstores and its proximity to Manchester Airport.

But the town in east Cheshire, surrounded by villages inhabited by millionaire footballers, is now firmly on the map after an explosive parish council meeting was watched by 3million people on YouTube and began trending globally on Twitter.  

During the seven-minute edited highlights package of Handforth Parish Council’s planning committee’s December hearing someone is heard exclaiming: ‘f*** off’ at the start, a toilet is flushes and another person answers the front door as councillors from two rival factions struggled with the mute button. 

But it is clerk Jackie Weaver’s battle with council chairman Brian Tolver that has captured the nation’s imagination and is being dubbed Britain’s worst-ever Zoom meeting after it was tweeted by a Labour activist whose hobby is ‘watching random council meetings’. 

One insider told MailOnline today the row is just the tip of the iceberg, calling the parish council a ‘den of bullying’ where two rival factions have been warring for months over who should be leader.

Mr Tolver was thrown out of the pre-Christmas hearing – the second meeting in a row – after he accused rival councillors of calling it illegally and yelling: ‘You have no authority here, Jackie Weaver! NO AUTHORITY AT ALL!’ and repeatedly telling her to ‘stop talking’. 

Jackie, acting as the clerk, then kicked him off Zoom for being ‘disruptive’.

Today its star Ms Weaver hinted she didn’t have the authority to eject the parish council chairman – but revealed she was there as a peacemaker because of incendiary rows on the planning committee where members regularly traded insults and claims of a ‘poisonous power grab’.

Ms Weaver told BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour: ‘Of that meeting I’m not actually sure who was in charge. We had two councillors who had legitimately called a meeting, and at that point, my job is supporting them to hold that meeting, and to make sure they were able to hold that meeting.’ She added: ‘I’m not a councillor nor am I member of the parish council’. 

And in a sign their battle won’t go away, the man she ejected, council chairman Brian Tolver, doubled down today, insisting he had no regrets about his behaviour and said his nemesis ‘had no status to speak other than when invited’. 

Mr Tolver, who said he was the only person with the power to eject councillors, said today of Ms Weaver’s behaviour: ‘I cannot think of any other council meeting anywhere, that was taken over by an unqualified member of the public like this. Removing half the councillors from the meeting denied half of the voters of the village from being represented – it was an appalling attack on their democratic rights. This made tensions rise, and that is why voices were raised in the second meeting.’ 

Handforth is just north of Wilmslow which is part of Cheshire affluent ‘Golden Triangle’ area popular with Premier League footballers. Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United and food poverty campaigner Marcus Rashford lives there.  Handforth itself a largely middle-class area with a shopping centre, several pubs and a large garden centre.

The row began when the council’s chairman Brian Tolver was accused of not attending meetings for around six months because he didn’t consider them legitimate. Minutes from the December meeting show that Cllrs John Smith and Susan Moore because because Cllr Tolver ‘refused’ to do so. 

It appears that the battle between the two camps is not over a controversial planning application or footpaths, but a bureaucratic dispute over who runs the council.

One faction, backing the authority of Jackie Weaver, claims Brian Tolver is a ‘disgraceful’ chairman who has too much power and is stopping the council making any decisions. Cllr’s Tover’s supporters believe a coup is underway and refuse to recognise the legitimacy of the December 10 that has exploded online.

And today MailOnline can reveal it is not the first time things have got heated, after unearthing footage of a 2017 meeting that exploded during discussions about plans for more car-parking and affordable housing in Handforth. Footage of the meeting showed councillors standing up, pointing fingers and shouting at each other as the debate over the future of the town boiled over as one female councillor yelled repeatedly: ‘Don’t dictate to me’. 

Peter Moore, 70, one of those on the zoom call, described the parish council as a ‘den of bullying’ which has been warring for months, prompting the laptop fisticuffs. ‘It has become chaotic,’ he told MailOnline. ‘Nothing is getting done. It has been like this for a while. This meeting was brought forward to try and get things moving.

‘They came to the meeting to disrupt it – the aggressive and bullying ones. They have turned it into a den of bullying.’

The row started several months ago between two warring camps within the parish council with four on one side and three on the other.

One councillor, Jean Thompson, was dismissed as she did not attend meetings for six months. So now the council is split with three councillors on each side: Brian Tolver, Aled Brewerton and Barry Burkhill versus John Smith, Cynthia Samson and Susan Moore.

A sleepy parish council meeting in Handforth, Cheshire turned into chaos as furious councillors traded insults and the chairman was blocked from the video call meeting. Pictured: Jackie Weaver, who threw chairman Brian Tolver out of the meeting

Weaver, Cheshire Association of Local Councils, clashes with chairman Brian Tolver who claims he was chucked out of an earlier meeting by her and refuses to accept the meeting’s legitimacy. He is later thrown out again for telling Weaver to ‘stop talking’ but today said he had no regrets

Another extroardinary moment came fter Jackie Weaver ejects Mr Tolver and asks to appoint a new chairman, when his ally Councillor Aled Brewerton (left) ‘No they can’t because the vice chair is here! I take charge! Read the standing orders. Read them and understand them!’.

Video footage of another row involving Handforth Parish Council more than three years ago has emerged 

The small town of Handforth in Cheshire, close to Manchester Airport, is known for its gigantic M&S and its quiet suburban streets – but many residents now know that its parish council is split by infighting and a battle for power

Handforth Parish Council: Who are all the members involved in the car-crash Zoom conference that has been watched around the world? 

Jackie Weaver was chairing the now famous Handforth Parish Council meeting which captured national attention

Jackie Weaver

Jackie Weaver was chairing the now famous Handforth Parish Council meeting which captured national attention. 

She is the Chief Officer of the Cheshire Association of local councils.

The group is a member based organisation that exists to promote the rights and interests of Town and Parish Council across Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Warrington, Trafford and Halton Boroughs.  

It provides support, including legal support, to local councils in the area, as well as running training programme for clerks and councillors.

The meeting has now been viewed by 3million people. 

She told BBC Radio Four’s Woman’s Hour: ‘I suppose the surprise comes in large part because actually 99.99% – that’s an actual fact I’m sure – of council meetings are just not like that. They are often less exciting than we might hope they were.’

Ms Weaver said she had had ‘nothing but really lovely, positive support’ since the clip had gone viral.

She said that it was important to try to eradicate ‘bad behaviour’ from local councils.

She added: ‘A lot of us are working very hard – and that includes central government – to try to do something about that, because we’re passionate about the fact that local government is the mechanism by which people can really engage with their communities.’

Brian Tolver

Brian Victor Tolver is the chairman of Handforth Parish Council

Brian Victor Tolver is the chairman of Handforth Parish Council.

He was re-elected as a Handforth Ratepayers’ Association (Independent) candidate for the South Ward on Handforth Parish Council in 2019, gaining 271 votes.

He has been a parish councillor for over five years and is a founder member of Hands Off Handforth Green Belt (HoHGB) – a campaign group run aiming to ‘protect our village from unnecessary development on our precious open space’.

Outside of the council he runs a software business called Brooke House Ltd.  

Aled Brewerton 

Aled Brewerton is an independent councillor who represents the Handforth West Ward

Aled Brewerton is an independent councillor who represents the Handforth West Ward. He was elected to his seat in 2019, winning with 353 votes.

He is currently the vice chairman of the council and chair of the council’s finance committee.

Outside of the council, he is a self-employed solicitor and ‘professional investigator’ who runs A2Z Investigations Ltd.

Barry Burkhill

Barry Edward Burkhill is an independent councillor for the Handforth ‘Ratepayers’ Association’ on Handforth Parish Council

Barry Edward Burkhill is an independent councillor for the Handforth ‘Ratepayers’ Association’ on Handforth Parish Council.

He represents Handforth South Ward and was re-elected to the seat with 316 votes in 2019.

He is also elected to represent the Handforth Ward at East Chesire Borough Council. He was re-elected for a third time in 2019. having first been elected in 2011. 

On top of this, he is the current Mayor of Cheshire East. He has represented Handforth for 38 years and for 28 years was a member of Macclesfield Borough Council, of which he was elected mayor in 2007.

Outside of the council, he is retired.  

Susan Moore 

Susan Moore was elected to Handforth Parish Council in 2019

Susan Moore was elected to Handforth Parish Council in 2019. She is an independent councillor, representing Handforth West Ward, which she won with 451 votes.

Outside of the council, she is involved in Moore Secure Ltd – a company which installs CCTV, fire alarms and other home security measures.

John Smith 

John Michael Smith is an independent councillor for Handforth Parish Council

John Michael Smith is an independent councillor for Handforth Parish Council. He represents Handforth East Ward, a seat to which he was re-elected uncontested in 2019.

He is a self-employed driving instructor outside of the council.

His wife, Julie, is a pharmacy assistant and a councillor.

She ran as an independent candidate for the Handforth Borough ward on Cheshire East Council in 2019 – a seat which she won.

The pair are said to have five adult children and two grandsons. 

Cynthia Sampson

Cynthia Margaret Samson is an independent councillor for Handforth Parish Council

Cynthia Margaret Samson is an independent councillor for Handforth Parish Council. She represents the Handforth East Ward, a seat to which he was re-elected uncontested in 2019.

She is a retired accountant who is married to Christopher Sampson, a driver for the Chesire-based epilepsy support charity, the David Lewis Centre.

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Mr Moore, the husband of councillor Susan Moore, said: ‘One councillor didn’t attend for six months so by council law you are gone.

‘A partial observer would say that (Mr Tolver, Mr Brewerton and Mr Burkhill) will lose control in May with the council elections.

‘That is what is driving it. They tend to block things that they do not put forward.

‘The controlling group has become increasingly angry and aggressive. They do nothing. They fought very hard to keep the councillor but she is missing.’

Councillor Barry Burkhill’s wife Sue Bideford who is deputy mayoress of Cheshire East, said: ‘The meeting was illegal and should not have been allowed.

‘But what is behind it is a poisonous power grab.’

Jackie Weaver hosted a meeting of Handforth Parish Council in which councillors lost their cool and traded insults, leading to her kicking chairman Brian Tolver off the Zoom call.

A clip of the December 10 meeting, which was put on Twitter on Thursday afternoon, had been viewed more than three million times by Friday morning, much to the shock of Ms Weaver.

The meeting of the parish council in Cheshire marked the second time Mr Tolver had been removed, having previously been evicted from the earlier 7pm planning and environment committee call.

In the 7.30pm extraordinary meeting, Mr Tolver told Ms Weaver, chief officer of the Cheshire Association of Local Councils (ChALC), to ‘stop talking’, and added: ‘You have no authority here.’

In response, Ms Weaver removed Mr Tolver from the Zoom call and placed him in a virtual waiting room.

After Jackie Weaver ejects Mr Tolver, his ally Councillor Aled Brewerton is shown angrily shouting at Ms Weaver when she tries to elect a new chairman: ‘No they can’t because the vice chair is here! I take charge! Read the standing orders. Read them and understand them!’. 

An irate Cllr Brewerton then yells off camera: ‘We’re trying to have a Teams meeting you fool!’ He was also later ejected.

The row came weeks after another brutal meeting where Jackie Weaver had ejected the chairman from the Zoom.

Mr Tolver had claimed the agenda was ‘concealed’ and, following a series of interjections and claims the meeting was not legitimate, he was eventually removed by Ms Weaver.

Ms Weaver claims she had been asked to be there as a member of the Cheshire Association of Local Councils after a series of row.

She said today: ‘If you want the boring detail, we had two councillors who had legitimately called a meeting, and at that point, my job is supporting them to hold that meeting, and to make sure they were able to hold that meeting.’ She added: ‘I’m not a councillor nor am I member of the parish council’.

And Ms Weaver has admitted today that she was there in a support role but insisted she was badly treated by ‘bullying’ councillors.  

She said: ‘I’ve had nothing but really lovely positive support from people, who of course condemned the behaviour. There is an element of bullying and bad behaviour around in local councils, and a lot of us are working very hard, that involves central government, to try to do something about that’.     

Mr Tolver today said he did not regret how he had acted in the meeting, including telling Ms Weaver to ‘stop talking’, and insisted she had no authority to throw him out.

He said Ms Weaver – who hosted the Zoom call and removed him from it – was not the true clerk and was just present as a member of the public and ‘had no status to speak other than when invited’.

‘If you look at the first meeting you will see I have reason to be angry,’ he said.

Mr Tolver added he had never seen another instance where a council meeting was taken over by an ‘unqualified member of the public’, in reference to Ms Weaver.

His said: ‘The video that you have viewed is the second Parish Council meeting of that evening.

‘That shows the angry reaction from councillors to the illegal behaviour of Jackie Weaver in the first meeting – the provocation that caused that reaction.

‘The law concerns the conduct of Parish Council meetings states as follows: ‘At a meeting of a parish council the chairman, if present, shall preside*’

‘The action of the person operating the Zoom system (Jackie Weaver) was a serious breach of this law. Not only was I prevented from conducting the meeting, two other councillors were also ejected by the same lady for protesting that my ejection was unlawful.

‘I cannot think of any other council meeting anywhere that was taken over by an unqualified member of the public like this.

‘Removing half the councillors from the meeting, denied half of the voters of the village from being represented – it was an appalling attack on their democratic rights.

‘This made tensions rise and that is why voices were raised in the second meeting, of which you have copies of or will have seen on the internet.

‘In the second meeting, I was trying to explain the correct procedure to this lady and say her actions were out of order, but she seems to have believed that she could do whatever she chose.

‘I have never, ever heard of someone abusing the proper process of conducting council meetings in such an extraordinary fashion as she did.

‘I am still somewhat in shock that anyone would interfere in the proper democratic rights of residents in this way.’

Video footage of another row involving Handforth Parish Council more than three years ago has emerged.

The video shows a heated meeting at Handforth Youth Centre involving the the-then crop of councillors discussing money for more car-parking and affordable housing in Handforth.

A member of the public claims Brian Tolver had praised fellow councillor Brian Burkill for securing funding for improvements to the village.

But the member of the public said the council had not received ‘a penny of the funding’ for over two years.

Councillors then have a heated back-and-forth with the public over getting more funding for the area.

The row took place in 2017, prior to the 2019 election, where a number of new councillors were elected. 

Video footage of another row involving Handforth Parish Council more than three years ago has emerged.

The video shows a heated meeting at Handforth Youth Centre involving the the-then crop of councillors discussing money for more car-parking and affordable housing in Handforth.

A member of the public claims Brian Tolver had praised fellow councillor Brian Burkill for securing funding for improvements to the village.

But the member of the public said the council had not received ‘a penny of the funding’ for over two years.

Councillors then have a heated back-and-forth with the public over getting more funding for the area.

The row took place in 2017, prior to the 2019 election, where a number of new councillors were elected. 

Jackie Weaver became a global Twitter trending topic last night and today finds herself installed as a tongue-in-cheek favourite to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

But the December 10 Handforth Parish Council Planning & Environment Committee meeting was, its minutes assure us, an extraordinary meeting – leaving a shocking trail of chaos, power grabs and insults.

The meeting, footage of which surfaced yesterday, starts badly.

As the fine burghers of the east Cheshire village (‘a fast-growing community connecting Cheshire to Greater Manchester, with a major retail centre and luxury car outlets, and easy access to Manchester Airport’) gather for the 7:30pm Zoom call, a male voice chimes in from off-camera. ‘F*** off,’ he says.

We then meet parish council chairman Brian Tolver and matters don’t improve. His Zoom title, despite being the chairman, is ‘Handforth PC clerk’. There is clearly history here.

Mrs Weaver said no one could stop Cllr Tolver describing himself as the meeting’s clerk, or indeed anything else. ‘Please refer to me as Britney Spears from now on,’ she adds. 

He addresses the meeting’s actual clerk, Jackie Weaver, drafted in from the peacekeeping corps of the Cheshire Association of Local Councils. ‘Can we be assured that we won’t be thrown out of the meeting like we were last time?’ he says, leaning towards the camera and sucking his teeth for emphasis.

So DID Jackie Weaver have authority? How the cogs of local democracy are meant to turn (even in Handforth) 

It is understood the Jackie Weaver – from the Cheshire Association of Local Councils – was brought in to mediate the now famous meeting of Handforth Parish Council which has been watched millions of times across the globe.

Parish councils in England, by law, must hold an annual meeting and at least three other meetings in a year – though many often hold more.

As well as scheduled meetings, under the rules, if two councillors call for an extraordinary meeting of the council, the chairman must arrange it.

If the chairman does not do so within seven days, two members can convene an extraordinary meeting of the council.

The issue, however, comes with who chairs the meeting. In any case, only elected members have authority in council meetings.

One local council expert, who has been an elected official for 20 years, told MailOnline that while it was legal to bring in Ms Weaver to assist in the meeting, she would have had no authority.

‘I think she’s there as a peacekeeper because it’s not usual for someone from the local authority group to be there,’ he said.

‘She would have been there to advise. But she wouldn’t have had any authority, only members of the council would have.

‘This one was probably a contentious meeting – an extraordinary meeting – and it appears there is something odd going on because they seem to have agreed something beforehand – perhaps in a bid to control the influence of the chair.

‘But it’s difficult not knowing what has gone on beforehand.’

One particular issue is that Ms Weaver appeared to remove the council chairman from the Zoom meeting, which he said she did not have the authority to do. 

‘It’s only the chair who has the power to remove people at meetings or demand people not be heard,’ he added.

In England, parish councils are the lowest tier of local government – underneath borough or district councils and country or unitary authorities.

They are responsible for civil parishes, but are sometimes known as ‘town councils’  – if the area they cover is a town.

There are 9,000 parish and town councils in England, with around 80,000 councillors.

Many parish councillors – who are not paid for their time unlike those in higher tiers of local government – are independent.

Their main responsibilities involve hyper-local services, such as hedge trimming, maintaining local benches, public clocks, parish halls and some public toilets.

They can make representations on planning matters to the district or borough councils – which have to be considered – but they cannot make decisions themselves on planning matters.

One of their other key roles is to represent people in their area on matters at higher government levels.

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‘As long as we have reasonable behaviour from everyone,’ Mrs Weaver replies.

A reasonable request, perhaps. But Cllr Tolver is an independent councillor in more than just name.

He was thrown out last time, he reminds the room. (‘Quite rightly too,’ a colleague pipes up.) And before the meeting can even begin, he returns to taking Mrs Weaver to task. What is she doing there?

‘I am here offering support to Handforth Parish Council in the conduct of the meeting this evening,’ she assures him, but Cllr Tolver is having none of it. This Zoom call ain’t big enough for two parish council clerks.

‘It isn’t the role of someone who, however kindly, volunteers to do the clerking of a meeting to act as a Proper Officer if they haven’t so been appointed,’ Cllr Tolver insists. ‘That’s against the law.’

Ms Weaver attempts to fight her corner, but the chair remains sturdy, if inelegant. ‘Stop talking,’ he bellows.

The chair decides business at Handforth Parish Council meetings, the chair insists, and ‘God knows what you’re doing in your job’ if you don’t know that. (‘Who is this woman?’ another disembodied voice asks.)

Cllr Tolver continues with another reference to the previous darkness casting a shadow over today’s proceedings. 

‘We will start the meeting, and I want to repeat what I said at the beginning of the last meeting, that this meeting has not been called according to the law. The law has been broken.’

‘It has been properly called,’ Mrs Weaver assures him.

‘Will you PLEASE let the chairman speak,’ the chairman demands.

‘Mrs Weaver PLEASE,’ a further man squeaks from ‘Aled’s iPad’ on the Zoom sidelines. The crowd is getting agitated.

Mrs Weaver attempts to regain calm. ‘If you disrupt this meeting, I will have to remove you from it,’ she says,

‘You can’t! It is only the chairman who can remove people from a meeting,’ the chairman, who was removed from the previous meeting, cries. ‘You have no authority here, Jackie Weaver! NO AUTHORITY AT ALL!’

It was a bold shot – one likely to live on in memes, on mugs and on t-shirts – but it was his parting one.

‘She’s just kicked him out,’ says Aled’s iPad, which it seemingly takes two men to operate.

Mrs Weaver attempts to continue: ‘This is a meeting called by two councillors…’

‘Illegally,’ the squeakier of the Aleds interjects.

‘…who can now elect a new chairman,’ Mrs Weaver patiently finishes.

‘No they can’t because the vice chair is here! I take charge!’ Squeaky Aled leans forward, revealing himself as Cllr Aled Brewerton. ‘Read the standing orders,’ he roars at Ms Weaver. ‘READ THEM AND UNDERSTAND THEM!’

‘Deary me,’ someone sighs.

Cllr Barry Burkhill appears, squinting at a camera from a room basking in an unreassuring yellow glow.

‘Where’s the chairman?’ he asks, a theme he returns to over the coming minutes, regardless of who is speaking.

Mrs Weaver again attempts to get a new chairman elected – but Cllr Burkhill assures her ‘you don’t know what you’re talking about’.

‘Can I ask you to be respectful to Jackie Weaver please,’ a female colleague on the call says, prompting belly laughs from the stalls. Non-squeaky Aled holds his stomach and rocks back and forth in glee. Good one! Be respectful to Jackie Weaver! Jackie Weaver has no authority here!

Cllr Brewerton notices Cllr Burkhill has now been removed too, and he’s not squeaking now – instead hissing.

‘We’re trying to have a Teams meeting, you fool,’ he rasps, regrettably off camera so whether his head rotated at the same time remained unclear.

But saintly Jackie is more than a match for such foes. With a wave of her dismissing finger, both men on Aled’s iPad vanish, joining Cllrs Tolver and Burkhill in the limbo of the waiting area.

Cllr John Smith is elected chairman and the meeting can begin. ‘Welcome to Handforth,’ he says, wearily.

‘It’s nothing if not lively,’ Mrs Weaver responds. 

The meeting on December 10 is attended by several other councillors (clockwise from top left: Susan Moore, Barry Burkill who is also thrown out, John Smith who takes over as chairman, and Cynthia Samson)

The row took place during a meeting of Handforth Parish Council, the parish authority for the village of Handforth in Cheshire

In full: The transcript of the now famous Handforth Parish Council meeting

Councillor Brian Tolver: When do we plan to start?

Unknown: F**k off

Jackie Weaver: I think we can start any moment, Chairman. I think it is just helpful to go through the same things as we went through before which is to encourage people to just switch off their microphones because it does reduce the background [noise]. I’ll continue to admit people if you’d like to start the meeting Chairman.

Cllr Tolver: Can we be assured that we won’t be thrown out of the meeting like last time?

Ms Weaver: As long as we have reasonable behaviour from everyone, no one will be excluded from the meeting.

Cllr Tolver: I was thrown out of the meeting. So was Councillor Brewerton.

Councillor Peter Moore: Quite rightly.

Ms Weaver: As a point of order Chairman, could we start the meeting?

Councillor John Smith: Chair?

Cllr Tolver: We haven’t started the meeting yet. Do you want to speak anyway?

Cllr Smith: Yes I’d like to ask a point of order.

Cllr Tolver: We’re not in a meeting so points of order are not applicable.

Cllr Smith: Has it started yet? No?

Cllr Tolver: Points of order apply during the debates. And I want to ask Jackie was it you who quoted a point of order?

Ms Weaver: Yes it was indeed.

Cllr Tolver: Are you here as the Proper Officer?

Ms Weaver: I am here offering support to Handforth Parish Council in the conduct of this meeting this evening.

(From Aled’s iPad): You’re not the Proper Officer.

Cllr Tolver: Is that as Clerk or Proper Officer?

Ms Weaver: There’s no difference between Clerk or Proper Officer.

Cllr Tolver: Of course there is.

(From Aled’s iPad): Yes there is.

Cllr Tolver: You must know under basic law, I would have thought.

Ms Weaver: Are we going to start this meeting?

Cllr Tolver: It isn’t the role of somebody who, however kindly volunteers to do the clerking for a meeting, to act as a Proper Officer if they haven’t so been appointed. That’s against the law.

Ms Weaver: This meeting has been called by two…

Cllr Tolver: And let me also quote to you the standing orders of Handforth… will you stop talking?

Ms Weaver: Unless we are prepared…

Cllr Tolver: Will you please listen? Will you please listen? Will you stop being whatever it is you’re trying to be and just clark the meeting if that’s what you want to do. Points of order, according to our standing orders, are determined by the Chair. If you want to raise a point of order as a councillor, you ask if you can raise a point of order, you state it, and then the Chair decides. It is not for the Clark to raise a point of order. It is not for the Clark to decide a point of order. You must be aware of that. God knows what you’re doing here if you’re not.

Ms Weaver: Shall we elect an alternative Chairman? So Chairman, albeit late, shall we get this meeting started?

(Unknown): I can’t see Jackie Weaver

(Unknown): It’s this woman here.

Cllr Tolver: Right, we’ll start the meeting, and I want to remind people of what I said at the start of the last meeting. That this meeting has not been called according to the law. The law has been broken.

Ms Weaver: It has been properly called…

Cllr Tolver: Will you please let the Chairman…

(From Aled’s iPad): Mrs Weaver please!

Ms Weaver: If you disrupt this meeting, I will have to remove you from it.

(From Aled’s iPad): You can’t.

Cllr Tolver: It’s only the Chairman who can remove people from the meeting. You have no authority here, Jackie Weaver. No authority at all.

(Cllr Tolver is removed from the meeting).

(From Aled’s iPad): She’s just kicked him out.

Ms Weaver: I have indeed.

(From Aled’s iPad): No she’s kicked him out. No don’t. She’s kicked him out.

Ms Weaver: This is a meeting called by two councillors…

(From Aled’s iPad): Illegally.

Ms Weaver: May now elect a Chairman.

(From Aled’s iPad): No they can’t because the Vice Chair is here. I take charge. Read the standing orders. READ THEM AND UNDERSTAND THEM!

David Pincombe: Dear me.

Ms Weaver: Appalling behaviour. A copy of this will in fact be sent to the monitoring officer.

(From Aled’s iPad): I’m the Vice Chair.

Barry Burkhill: Where’s the Chairman?

(From Aled’s iPad): Given the standing orders, it now reverts to me.

Cllr Burkhill: Where’s the Chairman gone?

(From Aled’s iPad): Read the standing orders.

Ms Weaver: … like to elect a Chairman for this meeting?

Cllr Burkhill: You don’t have to elect a Chairman. There’s a Chairman already installed. The Chairman of the Council.

Ms Weaver: Cllr Burkhill we’ve been through this.

Cllr Burkhill: What are you talking about? You don’t know what you’re talking about.

Cllr Smith laughs.

Cllr Burkhill: The Chairman of the Council is the Chairman of the Council.

Susan Moore: Cllr Burkhill could I ask you to be respectful to Jackie Weaver please?

(Cllr Smith says intelligible words. Laughter from Aled’s iPad).

Jackie Weaver: … will now elect a Chairman.

(Aled’s iPad): Here comes a subpoena.

Ms Weaver: Chairman?

(Aled’s iPad): I want to leave. She’s kicked Barry out so I’m leaving.

No.

We’re trying to have a Teams meeting you fool. We’re trying to have a Teams meeting you fool. We can’t, have you got that? You just don’t…

(Laughter)

Cynthia Samson: Jackie Weaver, I find that the person on Aled Brewerton’s Zoom is being very disrespectful to everybody.

(Aled’s iPad): Oh coming from you from [intelligible] that sounds good.

Cllr Smith: My first point is to apologise to Jackie but welcome to Handforth. May I start?

Ms Weaver: Indeed, indeed. Nothing if not lively in Handforth.

Cllr Smith: What I would say is that it was a very good example of bullying within Cheshire East.

Cllr Moore: John can I make a very quick point? Rich coming from the Chairman who hasn’t held a meeting since March to try and call this one illegal and he’s a complete disgrace.

Cllr Smith: Ok, thank you Peter.

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Social media has today exploded with memes about a bizarre parish council meeting which ended in a blazing row.

People took to the internet to mock the meeting, which saw a huge argument break out during an online meeting of Handforth Parish Council in Cheshire.

Members of the council were likened to Conan the Barbarian and the Lord of the Rings wizard Gandalf, as people used the internet to poke fun at comical parish council video – which has now been watched by 2million people across the globe.

One Twitter user compared the moment a councillor screams ‘READ THE STANDING ORDERS, READ THEM AND UNDERSTAND THEM’ during the conference call to the famous ‘THIS, IS, SPARTA’ scene in the Hollywood blockbuster ‘300’. 

Another, using the same quote, compared it with an image of a famous bust-up between Newcastle team mates Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer during a Premier League match in 2005. 

Others compared the huge row during the tiny village council meeting to Tubbs – the insidious shop owner from comedy show League of Gentlemen who claimed her store was a ‘local shop for local people’.

Social media users also picked up on part of the row in which local government assistant Jackie Weaver referred to herself as ‘Britney Spears’ when one of the councillors changed their Zoom name to ‘Handforth PC Clerk’.

Others backed Jackie – who is not a councillor but was providing mediation for the extraordinary meeting – due to her calm and controlled responses in the face of rising anger from councillors. 

Some also compared the incident to Dawn French’s show the Vicar of Dibley, where the comedian’s character would take part in meetings of the bungling local council. 

The incident was sparked after December 10th Handforth Parish Council Planning & Environment Committee meeting was posted online. 

The meeting, footage of which surfaced yesterday, starts badly.

As the fine burghers of the east Cheshire village (‘a fast-growing community connecting Cheshire to Greater Manchester, with a major retail centre and luxury car outlets, and easy access to Manchester Airport’) gather for the 7:30pm Zoom call, a male voice chimes in from off-camera. ‘F*** off,’ he says.

We then meet parish council chairman Brian Tolver and matters don’t improve. His Zoom title, despite being the chairman, is ‘Handforth PC clerk’. There is clearly history here.

Mrs Weaver said no one could stop Cllr Tolver describing himself as the meeting’s clerk, or indeed anything else. ‘Please refer to me as Britney Spears from now on,’ she adds. 

He addresses the meeting’s actual clerk, Jackie Weaver, drafted in from the peacekeeping corps of the Cheshire Association of Local Councils. ‘Can we be assured that we won’t be thrown out of the meeting like we were last time?’ he says, leaning towards the camera and sucking his teeth for emphasis.

‘As long as we have reasonable behaviour from everyone,’ Mrs Weaver replies.

A reasonable request, perhaps. But Cllr Tolver is an independent councillor in more than just name.

He was thrown out last time, he reminds the room. (‘Quite rightly too,’ a colleague pipes up.) And before the meeting can even begin, he returns to taking Mrs Weaver to task. What is she doing there?

‘I am here offering support to Handforth Parish Council in the conduct of the meeting this evening,’ she assures him, but Cllr Tolver is having none of it. This Zoom call ain’t big enough for two parish council clerks.

‘It isn’t the role of someone who, however kindly, volunteers to do the clerking of a meeting to act as a Proper Officer if they haven’t so been appointed,’ Cllr Tolver insists. ‘That’s against the law.’  

Ms Weaver attempts to fight her corner, but the chair remains sturdy, if inelegant. ‘Stop talking,’ he bellows.

The chair decides business at Handforth Parish Council meetings, the chair insists, and ‘God knows what you’re doing in your job’ if you don’t know that. (‘Who is this woman?’ another disembodied voice asks.)

Cllr Tolver continues with another reference to the previous darkness casting a shadow over today’s proceedings.

‘We will start the meeting, and I want to repeat what I said at the beginning of the last meeting, that this meeting has not been called according to the law. The law has been broken.’

‘It has been properly called,’ Mrs Weaver assures him.

‘Will you PLEASE let the chairman speak,’ the chairman demands.

‘Mrs Weaver PLEASE,’ a further man squeaks from ‘Aled’s iPad’ on the Zoom sidelines. The crowd is getting agitated.

Mrs Weaver attempts to regain calm. ‘If you disrupt this meeting, I will have to remove you from it,’ she says,

‘You can’t! It is only the chairman who can remove people from a meeting,’ the chairman, who was removed from the previous meeting, cries. ‘You have no authority here, Jackie Weaver! NO AUTHORITY AT ALL!’

It was a bold shot – one likely to live on in memes, on mugs and on t-shirts – but it was his parting one.

‘She’s just kicked him out,’ says Aled’s iPad, which it seemingly takes two men to operate.

Mrs Weaver attempts to continue: ‘This is a meeting called by two councillors…’

‘Illegally,’ the squeakier of the Aleds interjects.

‘…who can now elect a new chairman,’ Mrs Weaver patiently finishes.

‘No they can’t because the vice chair is here! I take charge!’ Squeaky Aled leans forward, revealing himself as Cllr Aled Brewerton. ‘Read the standing orders,’ he roars at Ms Weaver. ‘READ THEM AND UNDERSTAND THEM!’

‘Deary me,’ someone sighs.

Cllr Barry Burkhill appears, squinting at a camera from a room basking in an unreassuring yellow glow.

‘Where’s the chairman?’ he asks, a theme he returns to over the coming minutes, regardless of who is speaking.

Mrs Weaver again attempts to get a new chairman elected – but Cllr Burkhill assures her ‘you don’t know what you’re talking about’.

‘Can I ask you to be respectful to Jackie Weaver please,’ a female colleague on the call says, prompting belly laughs from the stalls. Non-squeaky Aled holds his stomach and rocks back and forth in glee. Good one! Be respectful to Jackie Weaver! Jackie Weaver has no authority here!

Cllr Brewerton notices Cllr Burkhill has now been removed too, and he’s not squeaking now – instead hissing, like the possessed young girl in The Exorcist 

‘We’re trying to have a Teams meeting, you fool,’ he rasps, regrettably off camera so whether his head rotated at the same time remained unclear.

But saintly Jackie is more than a match for such foes. With a wave of her dismissing finger, both men on Aled’s iPad vanish, joining Cllrs Tolver and Burkhill in the limbo of the waiting area.

Cllr John Smith is elected chairman and the meeting can begin. ‘Welcome to Handforth,’ he says, wearily.

‘It’s nothing if not lively,’ Mrs Weaver responds.

Lively indeed.

‘Make this a mini series on Netflix,’ one internet user demanded last night as footage swirled around the web.

The hilarious clips of the meeting were viewed thousands of times on Twitter, with people creating memes of Jackie Weaver removing councillors and jokes about standing orders.

TV presenter Richard Osman tweeted: ‘Am busily writing Jackie Weaver into the next Thursday Murder Club novel.’

‘Jackie Weaver could sort Spurs out,’ opined actor Stephen Mangan 

Broadcaster Ayesha Hazarika joked: ‘After days of rowing about patriotism & flags, can we agree that Jackie Weaver & that zoom makes us proud to be British.’

And TV’s Sue Perkins summed up the feeling of thousands, adding: ‘I will not sleep tonight until I have gone through every Jackie Weaver related tweet on the internet #jackieweaverhastheauthority’ 

Presenter Steph McGovern said: ‘But what happens next???’ It’s a tantalising question. Will there be a sequel?’