While Westminster waits to see who survives the fallout from the “cash for curtains” controversy, further north in suburban Cheshire a different political scandal has so far claimed two scalps.
Handforth parish council, which found itself at the centre of a media storm after a Zoom meeting went viral earlier this year, has since lost two members.
First to quit was chairman Brian Tolver, who told stand-in clerk Jackie Weaver she had “no authority here”.
He was followed out of the virtual door by vice-chairman Aled Brewerton, who barked at Weaver to “Read the standing orders! Read them and understand them!”
Weaver launched a thousand memes for her remorseless use of the Zoom eviction button and went on to be immortalised in a song by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Tolver, 74, quit at the Cheshire council’s latest meeting but did not give a reason.
One fellow councillor claimed it was from the fallout over the Zoom meeting, the BBC reported.
Councillor Susan Moore said she thought the chairman had quit as his grip on power had weakened following the Weaver controversy.
She said: “He is isolated on the council as his allies have not been seen since that meeting with Jackie Weaver.
“He has no power so he cannot do what he wants. He should have apologised for his behaviour but he didn’t.”
Brewerton, who appeared on the fateful Zoom call alongside an older man, has not given a public reason for his resignation. But the vacancy it opens up was announced on the Handforth parish council website on Wednesday.
