Insults and expletives turn parish council Zoom meeting into internet sensation

Swearing, hysterics and a heroically stoic clerk transform Handforth meeting into absurdist drama

A parish council meeting which descended into chaos - with councillors trading insults and ultimately getting booted off the Zoom call has become an internet sensation and a metaphor for the UK's woes under lockdown.

A video of the Handforth council meeting in Cheshire showed it starting badly when one unseen councillor apparently muttered swear words under his breath as the clerk tried to bring the session to order.