She became a viral superstar for her calm control of an eye-poppingly chaotic parish council meeting, and now Channel 4 wants to know if people think Jackie Weaver should be prime minister.
The channel has announced Weaver as one of 12 “ordinary yet opinionated Brits” who will feature in a six-part series called Make Me Prime Minister.
Weaver’s handling of the December 2020 Handforth town council meeting in Cheshire was one of the internet sensations of lockdown, shared by millions across the world. Weaver, employed by the Cheshire Association of Local Councils, had been brought in to help run the parish council meeting amid accusations of poor behaviour.
The low-quality Zoom meeting footage showed Weaver being told by the council chair that he was the only one who could remove people from the meeting. “You have no authority here Jackie Weaver,” he memorably said. “No authority at all.”
Soon after, he was removed.
Another councillor urged Weaver to read the standing orders, yelling: “Read them and understand them!”
Other councillors could be heard muttering under their breath. One got up to answer the door. Some struggled with their mute buttons. In the background was the sound of a flushing toilet.
Weaver trended on Twitter and became one of the most popular memes of 2021. Since then she has published a self-help book on getting things done – You Do Have the Authority Here! – and been a guest on television shows including Channel 4’s Big Fat Quiz Of The Year 2021.
In the new Channel 4 series candidates will try to show they have the mettle to lead the nation and battle it out to see if they have “what it takes to operate in the cut-throat world of politics”.
Weaver said she thought national politics should not involve “the rough and tumble” it currently does. If she became prime minister she would “make decisions that people don’t like” and “focus funding away from central government and towards local government so that changes you care about can be made”.
The candidates will be set weekly challenges by Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former press secretary, and Sayeeda Warsi, the Conservative peer and former party chair, to test “their leadership skills, resilience and integrity”.
Blair and David Cameron will also appear in the series, which will air later this year, to offer their “candid and personal advice” on what it is like to be prime minister.
Throughout the course of the series the candidates will be whittled down until one is crowned Channel 4’s alternative prime minister.
