'Don't mention Islamic extremists': Government phrasebook tries to avoid upsetting Muslims

The new counter-terrorism guidelines suggest that phrases such as "Islamic terrorist" and "jihadi fundamentalism" are too inflammatory and imply that all Muslims explicitly are responsible for extremism.

Instead the leaked Home Office document advises Whitehall bosses that they refer to violent extremism and criminal murderers or thugs to avoid any link between Islam and terrorism.

However, the war on terror handbook has provoked an unfavourable response from people claiming the Government are bowing under the pressure of political correctness.

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The document warns that civil servants, police forces and local councils should abandon "aggressive rhetoric".

It also claims that the use of concepts like "the struggle for values" or "a battle of ideas" plays into the hands of those who wish to frame the issue in terms of a clash of civilisations between Islam and the West.

A more productive approach is to stress the idea of shared values, it suggests.

"This is not intended as a definitive list of what not to say but rather to highlight terms which risk being misunderstood and therefore prevent the effective reception of the message," states the document, part of a pack created by the Home Office and Department for Communities and Local Government.

A Home Office spokeswoman confirmed that the document had been distributed to "key delivery partners" including chief constables, local authorities and Government offices a few weeks ago.

She added: "The pack is the first of a series of communications intended to brief partners about recent work to develop the 'prevent' strand of the Government's counter-terrorism strategy and help them to identify further contributions they can make to this agenda.

"The 'prevent' strand relies on all sectors - public, private, voluntary and community - working with central government in its aim of stopping people becoming or supporting violent extremists.

"Coherent and effective cross-government communications are important in relation to countering terrorism. Language is part of this work.

"To engage effectively with local communities, we need consistent, clear and appropriate communications. If our messages are ambiguous or untargeted they will not reach or be understood by those who need to hear them and we risk having a negative impact on our audiences.

"The communications guidance is based on in-depth, qualitative research, but is not intended to be prescriptive."

But Tory MP and security expert Patrick Mercer said to the Daily Express: "It is no help to strike out words like Islamist. What else do we call these people?"

"I understand the sensitivities of parts of our communities. But a vast majority of Muslims, who are law abiding, understand what the problem is."

The guidelines make up part of a £45million plan to tackle violent extremism in local communities and win the "hearts and minds" of Muslims.

They also show the simplistic criteria communities secretary, Hazel Blears, is using to distribute the money over the next three years.

In the first year the funds will only be handed out to areas with a Muslim population of more than 4,000 based on 2001 census data.

"This data is now 6-7 years old and given high population growth in Muslim communities is likely to be fairly out-of-date," says the internal Whitehall correspondence.

The limitations of this approach suggest there is only a very limited official understanding of the nature and geography of violent extremism in Britain.

Using the out-of-date information will mean that six key areas currently being funded will miss out on the new criteria.

This includes Crawley which was home to three of the five men convicted over the Operation Crevice plot to bomb the Bluewater shopping centre, in Kent, and the Ministry of Sound nightclub in London.