In an apparent snub to George Bush, the international development secretary, Hilary Benn, claimed today that the British do not use his phrase the "war on terror" because it encourages insurgent groups.
Mr Benn told a meeting at a New York-based thinktank that the phrase, coined by the Bush administration after September 11, could assist small, disparate groups with varying ideals "by letting them feel part of something bigger".
In December, the Foreign Office instructed cabinet ministers to stop using the phrase, and sent out advice to UK diplomats around the world that it should be avoided.
Despite the advice there are still 154 mentions of the "war on terror" on the Downing Street website.
The US president, George Bush, continues to use the words regularly, opening a speech last month commemorating the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq by describing its current government as "an ally in the war on terror".
In his speech today to the Centre on International Cooperation, Mr Benn - a declared candidate to take over from John Prescott as Labour's deputy leader - argued that the term is misleading and counter-productive.
He said: "In the UK, we do not use the phrase 'war on terror' because we can't win by military means alone, and because this isn't us against one organised enemy with a clear identity and a coherent set of objectives.
"It is the vast majority of the people in the world - of all nationalities and all faiths - against a small number of loose, shifting and disparate groups who have relatively little in common apart from their identification with others who share their distorted view of the world and their idea of being part of something bigger.
He went on: "What these groups want is to force their individual and narrow values on others, without dialogue, without debate, through violence. And by letting them feel part of something bigger, we give them strength.
Using "hard power" alone will not be enough to tackle terrorist groups, he said.
"It can certainly win the battle but without soft power, we cannot win the war that will deliver better governance, sustainable peace and lasting prosperity.
"The fight for the kind of world that most people want can, in the end, only be won in a different battle - a battle of values and ideas."
Challenged about the speech the prime minister's official spokesman said Tony Blair "has always made clear we believe in fighting terrorism not just by military means but by political means as well".
Asked about using the phrase "war on terror," he said: "We all use our own phraseology."
Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Michael Moore said Mr Benn should have spoken out sooner.
"Many will be cynical about Hilary Benn waiting until he is running for deputy leader of the Labour Party before making these comments.
"This apparent change of heart must also herald a substantive change of policy to one which tackles the root problems that give rise to international terrorism."
But the former Conservative cabinet minister John Redwood welcomed Mr Benn's speech.
Writing on his blog today Mr Redwood said: "Calling it a war on terror glorifies the terrorists and can lead to inappropriate thinking about how best to counter the terrorist threat. Invading and bombing some of the societies that harbour terrorists is not the way to stop this threat."