The Conservative Party’s most senior Muslim politician was given her job because of her religion, a Labour Party Muslim Minister has claimed.

In the latest Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum “no difference here” exchange between the Tory and Labour parties, Muslim government whip Sadiq Khan said that Baroness Warsi, shadow communities minister, was given the role as part of an “opportunistic courtship of the Muslim vote” by a “cynical Tory Party.”

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, has used the “Tory spin machine” to make out that his party is on the side of British Muslims because it needs their votes to win key seats, he said.

“Despite the fact that there are no Tory Muslim MPs, by appointing the unelected Baroness Sayeeda Warsi to his shadow cabinet, David Cameron can now claim to have Britain’s most senior Muslim politician in his ranks,” Mr Khan said, in a pamphlet for the left-wing Fabian Society.

Mr Khan, who is one of four Labour Muslim MPs, added that the Tories’ “courtship” of ethnic minority voters had “extended only to symbolic appointments” and that Tory Muslims had been given impossible seats to win.

A Conservative spokesman said: “This is simply not true. Mr Khan obviously hasn’t looked at this properly. It’s a false generalisation to say that ethnic minority candidates have been given difficult seats.

“Rehman Chishti has been selected to stand in Gillingham and Rainham, which is notionally a Conservative seat. Zahid Iqbal will stand in Bradford West, which has a Labour majority of just 3,000. And Helen Grant was selected to contest Maidstone and the Weald, which is currently Ann Widdecombe’s seat and is one of our safest.”