Handforth Parish Council: Jackie Weaver 'did not have the authority'

The unlikely internet star of a viral parish council meeting did not "have the authority" to mute and virtually eject councillors, new reports say.

Jackie Weaver trended on social media after a Zoom meeting of Handforth Parish Council spiralled into chaos.

She ejected the chairman after he challenged her "authority", which sparked rows and further shouting.

However, reports investigating the Cheshire council said it understood why she acted as she did.

Ms Weaver said "her jury was still out on that" and added there was little guidance on running virtual meetings.

Clips from a meeting at Handforth Parish Council, now called Handforth Town Council, racked up millions of views online in February 2021.

It included shouting, a disruptive phone call and parish councillors being ejected as well Ms Weaver infamously being informed that "you have no authority here".

Six reports have been published by Cheshire East Council investigating the behaviour of councillors at the parish council.

The reports total 145 pages, with three looking at complaints prior to the viral meeting and three looking at behaviour in that meeting.

One said that Ms Weaver "was not acting in an official capacity at these meetings".

Ms Weaver believed her actions were necessary given the behaviour of some of the councillors, the report added.

The reports, which were produced by an external investigator, said: "Faced with what were unusual and difficult circumstances, and the deep-seated issues underpinning those circumstances, we can understand why Jackie Weaver acted as she did, despite her action being without any formal footing in terms of appropriate process and procedure."

Reacting to the reports, Ms Weaver said: "We were still very vague about how virtual council meetings worked and I did not actually remove them from the meeting, in my opinion, I moved them to the waiting room.

"A little later in the meeting the remaining councillors voted to remove them.

"So I welcome the findings of the report but am deeply saddened that it took so long and cost so much to get there."

The reports also said that three former councillors were "on the balance of probability" in some breaches of the Code of Conduct for members.

Some of these breaches referred to the viral meetings and others were in relation to long-standing issues at the council, which all stemmed from a disagreement over whether a councillor had left their seat or not.

Another report said that three current councillors were not in breach of the code.

But the investigators said although they did not breach the code, "their behaviour cannot be said to be exemplary".

The reports were published after councillors at Cheshire East Council decided to release them.

There were no formal findings made as the reports did not make it to the committee stage of the process, because the three councillors being investigated all resigned.

A statement on behalf of some of the former councillors said that they did not accept the findings of the investigations and "do not recognise any of them as being valid".

"In terms of the findings of the reports, we wholly refute the findings and view them as being extreme fiction. The investigations were in our opinion conducted with more than an air of mendacity," they said.

"We did not, at any time, breach the code of conduct and now plan to fully contest these findings."

John Smith, the chairman of Handforth Town Council, said: "Although an earlier resolution would have been preferable, I congratulate Cheshire East Council legal officers for sticking with the investigation.

"Handforth Town Council is now getting on with supporting our great community, quietly and I hope, unobtrusively."

It was revealed earlier this month that investigating the rows at Handforth Parish Council has cost Cheshire East Council more than £85,000.

A council spokesman said: "While the early stages of complaint investigation are confidential, once a final investigation report has been issued, there is a strong public interest in the disclosure of findings on conduct matters regarding holders of public office.

"This is especially so when the conduct alleged is serious in nature and occurred within the public domain. "

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