'You could not make it up', despairing Miliband admits over loss of laptop containing details of 600,000 military recruits

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David Miliband expressed his disbelief yesterday at the theft of a Ministry of Defence laptop containing the personal details of 600,000 military recruits.

The Foreign Secretary confessed his despair at the latest example of the Government losing highly-sensitive information, and agreed: "You could not make it up."

He spoke out as Defence Secretary Des Browne prepared to make a Commons statement today to explain the security blunder.

MPs will want to find out why so much personal information was allowed to be kept on a laptop that was not encrypted, meaning it could be easily accessed by hackers.

Information Commissioner Richard Thomas is certain to criticise the MoD after he said he was "concerned" over the sensitivity of the data on the computer.

Entries on the laptop included names, addresses, passport details, National Insurance numbers, drivers' licence details, family details, doctors' addresses, NHS numbers and some bank details.

The laptop, a black and silver COMPAQ Evo N600c, was stolen from a Navy recruitment officer after he left it in the boot of a car parked in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham on the night of January 9.

Defence insiders said the laptop could be a 'treasure trove' for terrorists planning attacks on service personnel and their families.

Mr Miliband said that his reaction when he heard of the latest data loss was: "Oh no."

He said the Government now needed to convince the public that it could be trusted not to bungle its controversial plan for identity cards.

Information on the laptop relates to people who had expressed an interest in, or joined, the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and the RAF.