diff --git a/roles/wsgi_website/tasks/main.yml b/roles/wsgi_website/tasks/main.yml
index 1510ce6f6e601c20449c1184c76e138e91da2510..9de83d175682f4473b0714f8c19d3af789ec6ccf 100644
--- a/roles/wsgi_website/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/wsgi_website/tasks/main.yml
@@ -81,20 +81,31 @@
   notify:
     - Restart WSGI services
 
-# Ignore failures - the virtual environment might not have been
-# created yet. Don't use --version because Python 2 outputs to stderr,
-# and Python 3 outputs to stdout.
-- name: Check current version of Python used in virtual environment (if any)
-  command: "{{ home }}/virtualenv/bin/python -c \"import sys; print(sys.version.split(' ')[0])\""
+- name: Retrieve requested Python interpreter version
+  command:
+    argv:
+      - "{{ python_interpreter }}"
+      - "-c"
+      - "import sys; print(sys.version.split(' ')[0])"
+  changed_when: false
+  register: python_interpreter_version
+
+- name: Retrieve virtual environment Python interpreter version (if initialised)
+  command:
+    argv:
+      - "{{ home }}/virtualenv/bin/python"
+      - "-c"
+      - "import sys; print(sys.version.split(' ')[0])"
+  # Virtual environment perhaps does not exist.
   failed_when: false
   changed_when: false
-  register: current_python_version
+  register: virtualenv_python_version
 
-- name: Remove existing Python virtual environment (wrong Python version)
+- name: Remove virtual environment if Python version does not match
   file:
     path: "{{ home }}/virtualenv"
     state: absent
-  when: "current_python_version.rc == 0 and not current_python_version.stdout.startswith('3')"
+  when: "virtualenv_python_version.rc != 0 or virtualenv_python_version.stdout.strip() != python_interpreter_version.stdout.strip()"
   notify:
     - Restart WSGI services