Junior pensions minister Maria Eagle has been rejected as a conference speaker for being "too junior".

The National Association of Pension Funds asked for secretary of state Andrew Smith to address its annual gathering in Glasgow on Friday.

But when told that he was too busy it snubbed an offer of Eagle and opted instead for Conservative spokesman David Willetts.

A NAPF official tells the FT that his organisation turned the minister down because she is "extremely junior and too junior to give us a decent speech".