Express & Star

Tory ‘defection’ and cabinet reshuffle nothing more than council cock-up

It was viewed as a shock defection, as a staunch true blue Tory councillor seemingly jumped across to Labour with the local elections fast approaching.

Published
Wolverhampton council says the blunder was down to 'technical data migration'.

And not only did Wolverhampton councillor Arun Photay apparently switch his political allegiance, he was also immediately promoted to a senior cabinet role.

Or so it was erroneously reported on Wolverhampton council's official website.

In reality Mr Photay is still very much in the Tory camp, and is not the authority's cabinet member for resources – much to the relief of Labour councillor Andrew Johnson, who currently holds the role.

Council bosses say the blunder was down to 'technical data migration'.

The cock-up prompted great amusement among the city's Tory councillors.

Wendy Thompson, the Conservative group leader on Wolverhampton council, said: "I can confirm that Arun Photay has not changed his allegiance, but we have all had quite a laugh at the Labour cabinet taking on a staunch Conservative.

"Such a move would be absolutely welcome, and let's face it, they need all the help they can get."

The false information was on the council's website for 24 hours before the authority was alerted to its error by the Express & Star.

Wolverhampton council spokesman Oliver Bhurrut, said: “Following technical data migration over the weekend we were made aware that personal details of one of our elected members was incorrectly migrated and this has now been manually corrected.”

Mr Photay has represented Tettenhall Wightwick for the Tories since May 2012.