The Conservative minister Ros Altmann has been expelled from the Labour party after it was discovered she had been a member for more than 18 months.
Altmann, who previously worked as a director of Saga and was a “business champion” for older people for the coalition government, was made a Tory peer by David Cameron so she could take up the position of pensions minister.
However, it has emerged that she had been a Labour party member since March 2014 until Monday, and had been given a vote in its leadership election, prompting the party to immediately expel her.
The discovery, first reported by he the Huffington Post, appears to suggest that the peer has been operating as a government minister for four months while simultaneously being a member of the Labour party.
A spokeswoman for the minister said that she “has taken an interest in all three parties” because of her previous role as director of Saga and as a “business champion” for older people under the last coalition government and “wanted to keep in touch with what each party was doing”.
“She is now only a member of the Conservatives,” the spokeswoman said.
Altmann, who served as an adviser to Tony Blair when he was prime minister, is one of the UK’s most prominent pensions reform campaigners. She has pushed for higher rates for savers, better compensation for those who lose out from pension protection and for changes to women’s pensions.
The discovery of Altmann’s membership comes as evidence suggested hundreds or even thousands of eligible voters have not yet received their ballot papers for the Labour leadership contest. The deadline for votes to be cast in the leadership election is Thursday lunchtime.
Many voters can cast their ballots online, but the Guardian has received reports from party members complaining they have not received a ballot paper and found it impossible to contact the Labour party or their union.
The party has massively increased the numbers working on the process of weeding out those ineligible to vote, moving to a 24/7 system. It has a hotline that party members and registered supporters can ring if they have not received a ballot paper.
Labour declined to comment on Altmann’s membership. The Conservative party had not responded to a request for comment by the time of publication.
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