AFTER a Zoom meeting of a parish council went viral after descending into chaos last night, we have looked through the archives to find five times council meetings in Bradford suffered a similar fate.

The meeting of Handforth Parish Council - which has made internet celebrities of chair Brian Tolver, official Jackie Weaver and the rest of the village's councillors - went viral online last night after arguing and shouting saw the council's chair and vice-chair booted out of the meeting by Ms Weaver, from Cheshire Association of Local Councils.

The petty squabbling, snide comments and angry shouting proved a hit online, with a video of the meeting's 'best bits' being viewed 500,000 times on YouTube, and a tweet of the arguing being viewed 3.1 million times and garnering 80,000 likes.

In the clip Mr Tolver tells Jackie Weaver she has "no authority at all" shortly before she removes him from the meeting to the shock of other councillors, triggering vice-chair Aled Brewerton to shout that he was in charge, and telling Ms Weaver to "read the standing orders, read them and understand them" before also being kicked out shortly after.

Here are five times council meetings in Bradford have descended into similar chaos

Extinction Rebellion interruption

In July 2019, a meeting of Bradford Council's Regeneration and Environment Scrutiny Committee had to be halted after members of Extinction Rebellion began protesting.

A man walked round the meeting room reciting the group's aims, and recorded music was played while people shouted and held up signs.

Security had to be called to eject the protesters from the meeting room.

Poirot takes precedence

There was some confusion in July 2018 after a meeting of the Children's Services Scrutiny Committee was moved from its usual meeting room.

It turned out the meeting was moved because the committee room had been transformed into a set for the BBC's The ABC Murders, starring John Malkovitch as Agatha Christie's Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot.

Town Council "loses the plot"

Former Keighley MP Eric Pickles said the Town Council had "lost the plot" after its members ejected publice attendees who wanted to film the meeting in July 2013.

The Council said filming would not be permitted, and when the cameras started rolling they called the police, saying they were being "threatened by ten people".

Police eventually persuaded the people to leave and the meeting continued, with the council's actions described as "disgraceful and sad for democracy".

Public booted out of meeting

At a planning meeting in August 2019, members of the public were ordered out after continuous interruptions from protesters.

During the meeting, a woman stood up and began making a speech, slamming the plans for a new housing development and shouting at the board.

After she refused to stop interrupting, Cllr David Warburton ordered everyone out and held the meeting in private, however a handful of people were allowed back in shortly after.

'Die in' halts airport meeting

In January 2020, a meeting over Leeds Bradford Airport expansion was interrupted after several members of the public began coughing loudly, before shouting at Councillors and proceeding to 'die' and lay still on the floor.

Security and police were called to remove the protestors and the meeting was delayed for 20 minutes due to their antics.