Jackie Weaver: who is ‘you have no authority’ Zoom star - is she on Make Me Prime Minister on Channel 4?

Jackie Weaver first went viral for her reaction during the chaotic Handforth Parish Council Zoom meeting after a clip was posted on social media.

The bizarre footage showed councillors insulting each other, with Weaver simply removing one of the more vocal members from the virtual room.

She’s since gone on to some minor fame - appearing on Lorraine, presenting an award at the BRITs, etc - and will now appear on Channel 4’s new Apprentice-esque entertainment show Make Me Prime Minister.

So, who is Jackie Weaver, what happened in the Handforth Parish Council meeting - and what is Make Me Prime Minister about?

Here is everything you need to know.

Who is Jackie Weaver?

Jackie Weaver, from Cheshire, found unlikely fame after footage of a farcical parish council meeting she took part in went viral.

The online Zoom call broke the internet after a clip showed councillors trading insults and the chairman and vice-chairman being booted from the call.

Weaver, who is the chief executive of the Cheshire Association of Local Councils, had been called in to act as a proper officer to the meeting in December 2020.

But chair Brian Tolver accused her of having “no authority” on the call. Weaver subsequently removed him from the meeting and kicked out two others for their unruly behaviour.

After the incident, Jackie Weaver started trending on Twitter.

She has since embraced her newfound status as a meme, appearing on national TV and radio and using her platform to encourage younger people to engage with local politics.

In her personal life, Weaver has been married to her husband Stuart, who appeared on Lorraine with her, for 37 years and they have three grown-up children.

What happened during the Handforth Parish Council meeting?

Branded “Britain’s worst Zoom call”, the unruly parish council meeting has been viewed millions of times after it was shared on social media.

Weaver, as the meeting’s clerk, was tasked with controlling the increasingly angry situation.

The footage shows an unseen councillor mumbling a swear word under their breath, before Tolver refuses to recognise the legitimacy of the meeting.

He tells Weaver to “stop talking… you have no authority here.”

In response, Jackie Weaver removes Tolver from the Zoom call and places him in a virtual waiting room.

Following Tolver’s eviction, vice-chair Aled Brewerton, joined by an older unnamed gentleman, proceeds to yell at Ms Weaver to “read the standing orders…. read them, and understand them!”

When fellow councillor Susan Moore calls for civility, the meeting erupts into semi-hysterical laughter as Brewerton and Barry Burkill – another councillor – are removed.

Those remaining in the meeting vote to not allow the three men back in, with Cllr Cynthia Samson likening one to a “laughing hyena”.

Tolver later told the PA news agency that he did not regret how he had acted during the meeting, saying Weaver “had no status to speak other than when invited”.

It was the second time he had been removed from a meeting on that day, after he was previously kicked out of the Planning and Environment Committee half an hour earlier.

Did Jackie Weaver have the authority?

No. For those who were still wondering about this brief lockdown diversion months later, a full report was undertaken by Cheshire East council.

Both Sky News and the Guardian covered this internal investigation, noting their conclusion that Jackie Weaver “was not acting in an official capacity at the meetings.”

The Parish Council ultimately ruled that “she did not have authority to manage the attendance at those meetings.”

Is Jackie Weaver a Tory?

At the height of her ostensible fame, Weaver maintained she was not a Tory.

In press for Make Me Prime Minister, it has become obvious that she is in fact a Tory. (If it wasn’t before?)

As well as naming one of her key issues with the country “the sentimentality around the NHS”, she has admitted that she “always voted Conservative and never really gave it much thought”.

What is Make Me Prime Minister?

Make Me Prime Minister is a new Apprentice style vanity project/light entertainment show. 12 members of the public - Jackie Weaver amongst them - compete in themed challenges in the hopes of convincing Conservative peer Sayeeda Warsi and podcaster Alistair Campbell that they would be a good Prime Minister.

The series begins on Channel 4 on Tuesday 26 September at 9pm, right after The Great British Bake Off.