David Cameron today called on the BBC not to use the phrase 'Islamic State' when referring to the terror group operating in Iraq and Syria.

The Prime Minister - who calls the group 'ISIL' - said Muslims would 'recoil' at the phrase being used to justify the 'perversion of a great religion'.

He insisted that the battle against extremists targeting Britons around the world can be won but will require 'extraordinary resolve and patience'.

Prime Minister David Cameron said Muslims would 'recoil' at the phrase being used to justify the 'perversion of a great religion'

Gunman Seifeddine Rezgui targeted tourists at the Tunisian beach resort of El Kantaoui near Sousse on Friday morning, killing 38 people including up to 30 British tourists.

It makes it the worst terror attack on Britons since the July 7 London bombings in 2005.

Hakim Rezgui, the father of the gunman, last night claimed extremists had 'ruined his son's brain'.

Today Mr Cameron urged imams and Muslim leaders to continue to speak out against the terrorism carried out under a 'perversion of a great religion' and that extremism is a 'gateway into terrorism'.

He criticised BBC presenter John Humphrys for referring to the group as Islamic State.

The extremists are variously known as Islamic State, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and DAESH, based the Arabic acronym.

During his interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme Mr Cameron referred to the group as 'ISIL'.

'I wish the BBC would stop calling it Islamic State because it's not an Islamic State; what it is is an appalling, barbarous regime,' Mr Cameron said.

'It is a perversion of the religion of Islam and many Muslims listening to this programme will recoil every time they hear the words 'Islamic State'.

I wish the BBC would stop calling it Islamic State because it's not an Islamic State; what it is is an appalling, barbarous regime Prime Minister David Cameron

'So-called' or Isil is better,' he added.

However, some people on social media pointed out that ISIL is an acronym which refers to 'Islamic State'.

In the Commons today, SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson backed the call for politicians and the media to stop using 'Islamic State', and said 'Daesh' should be used instead.

He urged the Prime Minister join MPs across all parties, US Secretary of State John Kerry and the French foreign minister Laurent Fabius in 'using the appropriate term'.

Mr Robertson added: 'The time has come in the English speaking world, to stop using Islamic State, ISIS or ISIL, and instead we and our media should use Daesh as the commonly-used phrase across the Middle East.'

Mr Cameron repeated his criticism of the BBC for referring to the group as Islamic State: ;I think this is particularly offensive to many Muslims who see, as I see, not state but a barbaric regime of terrorism and oppression that takes delight in murder and oppressing women and murdering people because they are gay.

'I personally think that using the term ISIL or 'so-called' would be better than what they currently do.

'I don't think we will move them all the way to Daesh so I think saying ISIL is better than using Islamic State because it is in my view neither Islamic nor a state.'

ISIS gunman Seifeddine Rezgui walking down the beach in Tunisia where the gunned down 38 innocent tourists

WE WILL ACT TO NEUTRALISE ANY IMMINENT THREAT, SAYS CAMERON David Cameron today cleared the way for military action if it is needed to prevent an attack on Britain. The Prime Minister said the UK had to deal with the security threat 'at source', including airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq and surveillance operations over Syria. Mr Cameron added: 'As I've said in this House many times before, if we need to act to neutralise an imminent threat to the UK, we will always do so.' He said Britain was working with the UN, EU and America to support the formation of a Government of National Accord in Libya. He also promised to support national governments in 'strengthening weak political institutions and dealing with the ungoverned spaces where terrorists thrive'. Mr Cameron continued: 'We must take on the radical narrative that is poisoning young minds. The people who do these things do it in the name of a twisted and perverted ideology which hijacks the Islamic faith and holds that mass murder and terror are not only acceptable but necessary. 'We must confront this evil with everything we have. We must be stronger at standing up for our values and we must be more intolerant of intolerance, taking on anyone whose views condone the extremist narrative or create the conditions for it to flourish.' Advertisement

In a statement to MPs Mr Cameron said ISIS posed an existential threat to the British way of life, but vowed: 'We will not cower in the face of terrorism.'

He told the Commons there would be a nationwide minute's silence at midday on Friday to remember the victims.

'I know the whole country will want to share in a moment of remembrance,' he said.

The Prime Minister said the whole world had been shocked by the 'horrific attack' on the beach of Sousse in Tunisia.

Gunman Seifeddine Rezgui targeted tourists at the Tunisian beach resort of El Kantaoui near Sousse on Friday morning, killing 38 people including up to 30 British tourists.

It makes it the worst terror attack on Britons since the July 7 London bombings in 2005.

Home Secretary Theresa May visited the resort today to oversee efforts to identify the dead and help the wounded, as the RAF was put on standby the fly home the bodies of murdered holidaymakers.

Mr Cameron said Britons were not being advised to stay away from Tunisia's coastal resorts despite the bloody events at Sousse.

He told MPs: 'The Foreign Office has updated their travel advice, which continues to make clear the high threat from terrorism in the country, just as it did before Friday's events.

'But they are not moving to a position of advising against all but essential travel to this part of Tunisia.

'So they are not advising against visiting the popular coastal resorts. This was agreed by the Cobra emergency committee and will be kept under close review.'

These were 'difficult judgments', he said, because 'nowhere is without risk from Islamist extremist terrorists'.

In a statement to MPs Mr Cameron said ISIS posed an existential threat to the British way of life, but vowed: 'We will not cower in the face of terrorism'

'MY SON'S BRAIN WAS RUINED BY FANATICS', SAYS GUNMAN'S FATHER Hakim Rezgui (seen outside his home, left) said he was ashamed of his son, Seifeddine The father of Tunisian gunman Seifeddine Rezgui last night claimed extremists had 'ruined his son's brain'. As details continued to emerge of the killer's background, Hakim Rezgui said: 'These people ruined my son's brain with horrid thoughts and ideas, they broke him. 'People keep asking me for information and I don't know what to tell them, I was completely taken aback by the news of what my son had done.' Speaking outside the family home after being released from police questioning yesterday, Mr Rezgui said: 'I wish there had been no victims, no one hurt. I wish it had never happened. Because when I see the victims I think it could have been my own family. I had no idea and I am really sorry. I am upset to see those victims. 'I feel the loss of the families so strongly. I feel like I have died along with the victims. I am so ashamed for me, for his mother, for all our family.' Advertisement

Mr Cameron chaired a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee today and updated MPs in a statement in the Commons this afternoon.

Earlier he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'This is an absolutely horrific attack and I know it's shocked the whole of the country and it's shocked the whole of the world.'

Asked if ISIS poses an 'existential threat' to the western world and Britain, Mr Cameron said: 'I think it does.'

The Prime Minister insisted ISIS could be beaten, and Britain would remain a target until it does.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'It is an existential threat because what's happening here is the perversion of a great religion, and the creation of this poisonous death cult that is seducing too many young minds in Europe, in America, in the Middle East and elsewhere.

'This is going to be the struggle of our generation and we have to fight it with everything that we can.'

Mr Cameron repeatedly rejected the idea that the threat would be diminished if the UK withdrew from military involvement and airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

'I think that frankly we are a target. They have declared war on us and they are attacking our people at home and overseas whether we like it or not.

'Frankly I don't think you can hide from this threat or think that if you step back somehow you become less of a target.'

He went on: 'The 'put your head in the sand, try to cut yourself off from the world, think it's impossible to deal with these problems' approach is wrong.

'We can, if we show unity, purpose, resolve and determination work with our allies, use the incredible assets that we have, assert our system of values and democracy and the rest of it, we can beat these people.

'But it does take extraordinary resolve and patience, because this is going to take a very long-time. We have to be in this for the long haul.'

Home Secretary Theresa May (right) is in Sousse today to urge the Tunisian authorities to make sure British police are able to do their work to ensure swift confirmation of identities of the dead

Britain has sent a team, to 'assess the security in and around coastal resorts in Tunisia as part of our efforts to work with Tunisian authorities'

Downing Street today said 18 British nationals are now confirmed to have been killed in the attack, with the number expected to rise to 'around 30'

Mr Cameron said terrorists had targeted countries around the world, killing people of all backgrounds and faiths.

MANY NAMES FOR TERROR GROUP There are four terms used to refer to the terror group. They are ISIS, ISIL, Islamic State or IS, and Daesh. ISIS stands for The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and is most commonly used. It has thrown up problems with companies named after the Egyptian goddess of the same name. ISIL is shortened from The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. It is what the Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, uses when speaking of the group. Historically, the undefined region surrounding Syria is called Levant. IS or the Islamic State is how the terrorists describe themselves. Daesh is the word used by the French government when referring to the group. It began referring to them as such after claiming any reference to Islam could cause offence to other Muslims. Advertisement

'If you take a 10-year view we've been fighting Al-Qaeda and now ISIL and Al Qaeda, there have been bomb attacks in Bali, attacks on Turkish banks, attacks on the British underground, attacks in Belgian museums and French newspaper offices.

'They are attacking our way of life and what we stand and so we have to stand united with those who share our values and attack this problem at its source in Iraq and Syria.'

Likening the conflict to fighting communism in the Cold War, Mr Cameron said it is 'a battle of our values and our narrative against their values and their narrative'.

He added: 'We have to get that right as well as the military end of the conflict. There are people in Iraq and Syria who are plotting to carry out terrible acts in Britain and elsewhere and as long as ISIL exists in those two countries we are at threat.'

Meanwhile, the police have launched their biggest counter-terror operation for a decade over fears a 'lone wolf' attack could be launched using sub-machine guns smuggled into Britain.

The National Crime Agency has warned of the 'increased threat' posed by Skorpion weapons from the Czech Republic imported by gangs which could be used to kills dozens of people in copycat of the attack in Tunisia on Friday.

Scotland Yard has drafted in 600 officers - the biggest since the 7/7 bombings - and the Army is on standby to support police.

Extra police will be deployed at Wimbledon from today including the tenth 7/7 anniversary, when it is feared fanatics could attempt a copycat attack.

The National Crime Agency has warned about the 'increased threat' posed by Skorpion weapons from the Czech Republic imported in Britain by criminal gangs

Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police's top counter-terrorism officer, said the operation includes officers on the ground in Tunisia and hundreds at airports, looking for British witnesses of Friday's massacre.

It comes after the NCA updated its 'Assessment of Serious and Organised Crime' to warn of the flow of weapons into the UK.

It said: 'Handguns and shotguns remain the two types of firearms favoured by criminals. However, sub-machine guns (SMG) are also used by criminals, with an increased threat of Skorpion SMGs being imported into the UK destined for urban street gangs in south-east England.'

It also warned of 'significant detections and seizures' of stun guns and noxious sprays which could also be used in an attack.