Theresa May, the education spokeswoman for the Conservative party, has spoken of the confusion sometimes caused by sharing a name with a porn star.

The politician, with a Home Counties constituency and a 'county lady' dress sense, has revealed that she has received invitations that were intended for a namesake - Teresa May, a 'glamour model' and dancer.

Steamy late-night chat shows, hoping to find the glamour model have invited the education secretary onto their programmes.

"We do get telephone calls from time to time from people wanting to book me to do programmes and so forth, which are perhaps not about politics, let me put it like that," Theresa May told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Among the channels mistakenly seeking an interview was Granada Men and Motors, said the MP, which had featured her namesake in 'Lady Lust', with Teresa May playing a nightclub hostess.

Although their first names have different spellings, the politician says that she has raised expectations among those assuming she is the other Ms May.

"It does also cause other problems. For example when my assistant left a pager message once for somebody to telephone me, the pager operator did get very excited as to who it might be," said Theresa May.

Apart from the variation in spelling, the member of parliament for Maidenhead says that there are other ways in which they might be distinguished.

"I have a suspicion that if people saw us together there might be other distinguishing characteristics," said the politician.

However, Theresa May said she was not judgemental about the career choice of her namesake.

"As far as I'm concerned it's her life and she chooses to to earn her living in the way that she does. She may think it's slightly strange that some people might like to earn their living as a politician."