A CONSERVATIVE councillor who is registered to vote for the next leader of the Labour Party has blamed the political gaffe on a "friend playing a prank".

Cllr Chris Smith denied signing himself up and paying the £3 membership fee to his rival party to influence the internal vote.

His name and address were found to be among those set to receive ballot papers this week.

The Wokingham Borough councillor told the Reading Chronicle that a friend had put his name down as a joke and that he had no intention of taking part in the election.

Cllr Smith said: "This is because a friend of mine, or a former friend, thought it would be a nice surprise and so signed me up as a Conservative councillor.

"I did not know anything about it until I had a call from a journalist.

"It has made me look like a complete twat. Someone has played a prank on me and the party and it is damaging my reputation."

He added that he knew who the friend was but would not name them publicly.

After Labour's defeat in May's General Election former leader Ed Miliband stood down, sparking the current contest between Jeremy Corbyn, Yvette Cooper, Andy Burnham and Liz Kendall.

New supporters wishing to vote could sign up to the party for just £3 and hundreds of thousands have joined in recent weeks.

As part of the registration every voter has to agree that they adhere to the core principles of Labour.

More than 1,000 people have already been disqualified including Tory and Green Party councillors and Conservative MP for East Worthing and Shoreham Tim Loughton.

Cllr Smith was elected to Wokingham Borough Council in 2014 to represent Hillside ward and also sits on Earley Town Council.

He works as an assistant manager at finance giants KPMG and sits as a vice-chair of governors for The Avenue School in Tilehurst.

He said no ballot paper has yet arrived at his home in Elm Lane, Lower Earley but that he would "absolutely not" be voting if one did turn up.

He added: "I have a lot of friends in the Labour Party and their leadership election has turned into a farce.

"I have an awful lot of sympathy and I would not like it if in 10 years time our election got turned into this."

A spokesman for the Labour Party said its teams were working hard to weed out those who were signing up improperly and that individuals could have their votes scrapped even after they are cast if they are not deemed a genuine supporter.

He said: “The Labour Party has a robust system to prevent fraudulent or malicious applications. Unless they intend to defect to Labour, councillors and representatives of other parties will not be allowed a vote in Labour’s leadership election.

"However we will keep their generous donation of £3 to the Labour Party.”