Councillors behind Jackie Weaver Zoom call say life has been hellish ever since
Two councillors said they have received death threats since a Zoom meeting they were part took over the internet.
Handforth Town Council unexpectedly made headlines in December 2020, after Jackie Weaver was seen keeping her cool while colleagues shouted at and insulted her.
Aled Brewerton, 46, and his dad Keith, 76, were both on the chaotic call. Aled was recorded screaming that Ms Weaver should ‘read the standing orders and understand them’.
Now, both men have said the backlash has been so extreme they are unable to go to their local pub.
Aled said: ‘I’ve been told that I deserve to die and burn in hell. It’s that bad that even my partner has been threatened.
‘Basically it’s been two years of hell. I’ve been told that my home address has been shared on the internet and social media.
‘And when I’ve got to go out in public it makes me feel uneasy.’
Keith echoed similar feelings when he told how he and his son were chanted at during a friend’s birthday event.
He said: ‘If we go to a pub, we go out of the village – we don’t go into local pubs because we do not wish to be involved in civil disobedience.
‘It took me a fair while to convince Aled he could go into the village on his own and do his shopping.
‘There never has been a problem but it’s the thought in the back of your mind that there could be a problem.’
Aled resigned from the council in April 2021 ‘because the events made him feel ill and fed up’.
He said: ‘It was an absolute mess. Neighbouring councils wouldn’t work with us, we were the butt of all jokes. It really was embarrassing.’
He claims people started using the initials HCC to stand for ‘Handforth Clown Council’.
Keith and Aled also argue the video should not have been published in the first place due to privacy issues – which would have stopped the internet storm.
The Information Commissioner’s Office said it had investigated a complaint but closed the case with no further action taken because ‘the recording of these meetings is standard as they are public’.
What has happened to Jackie Weaver since the meeting?
Jackie Weaver became an unlikely celebrity for the way she handled the chaos that erupted during the famous council meeting.
She has since appeared in The Archers, participated on Celebrity Mastermind, opened the 2021 Brit Awards, and promoted the Disney+ Walking Dead Season 10 complete with a supporting cast of professional zombies.
She said: ‘In some respects this has all been, of course, a radical change in my life. But in other – and arguably more important ways, it hasn’t.
‘I remain Jackie Weaver, Chief Officer of the Cheshire Association of Local Councils. To my colleagues and the people of Cheshire I am no media personality – I am Jackie.’
She took part in a show called Make Me PM where she launched her theoretical manifesto under the eyes of taskmasters Alastair Campbell and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi.
Her main focus was her desire to ‘bring compassion into politics’ so that ‘all else will follow’.
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