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BUNGLING Oliver Letwin was forced to issue a grovelling apology yesterday as it was claimed he had been casually dumping secret papers in park bins for months.

The Cabinet Office Minister’s astonishingly slack method of disposal is initially thought to involved around 100 sensitive Government emails, memos and letters.

But it is feared this could be the tip of the iceberg with his aides claiming the sloppy politician threw away thousands more for anyone to see.

David Cameron’s right-hand man was yesterday rebuked for his ineptitude by Downing Street and the Information Commissioner’s Office launched a probe into whether he had broken the law.

A source close to Mr Letwin last night warned: “It has been going on for quite a number of months.”

The ICO thanked the Mirror for handing over the papers and will now analyse them to see whether Mr Letwin breached the Data Protection Act.

It said: “Keeping personal data secure is a key principle of the Data Protection Act, and the ICO takes any breach of that principle very seriously.”

It has the power to fine individuals up to £500,000 if it finds anyone had suffered serious distress as a result of the security protection breaches.

We caught the millionaire buffoon dropping documents in public waste bins in St James’s Park behind Downing Street on five separate occasions.

He tore up the letters but did not shred them, which left them clearly readable.

Humiliated Mr Letwin, 55, yesterday publicly apologised to constituents and privately said sorry to MPs whose correspondence he dumped.

Mr Cameron’s policy chief also vowed to end his early morning rubbish rounds as he admitted his actions had been “embarrassing”.

When we first contacted Mr Letwin on Thursday night, he admitted dumping letters because he “does some of his Parliamentary and constituency correspondence in the park”.

But yesterday afternoon the former merchant banker changed his story and explained he had thrown away papers because they were weighing him down.

Speaking in his West Dorset constituency, Mr Letwin said: “I was walking around dictating responses and simply wanted to make sure the pieces of paper were not weighing me down.

“I have to apologise to constituents who have written to me because, on reflection, I shouldn’t have disposed of them in that way.”

The documents he left in bins or handed to a rubbish collector date from July 27, 2010 to September 30 this year. The Cabinet Office has also launched a probe in a bid to find out exactly what he has left in public after aides claimed Mr Letwin has been at it for many months.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: “Our understanding is that there were no classified documents. Clearly, it’s not a sensible way to dispose of documents. Mr Letwin has agreed he will not dispose of documents in this way again.”

Tories Sir Malcolm Rifkind, Andrew Tyrie and Mark Hoban were named in letters we recovered.

None of them spoke publicly yesterday but one MP condemned his actions. The Tory politician said: “What does he think he’s doing carrying papers from coll-eagues around?

“We can all make mistakes and leave something on the train but as a matter of common practice? What I find astonishing is his line that it was only from his constituents so it doesn’t matter. What will they make of that?.”

Tory committee member Julian Lewis said Mr Letwin’s actions were “sloppy” at best.

Mr Lewis said: “All this is not good publicity for the government. If it is unclassified it is sloppy conduct.”

Labour ISC member Hazel Blears added: “For sensitive documents to be dis-posed of in a public waste basket is a matter of serious concern.

“To dispose of letters from an MP or, indeed, constituents in this way is the height of discourtesy.” Labour leader Ed Miliband said Mr Letwin had treated his constituents with “contempt”.

He declared: “I don’t think it’s the right way to act and the right way to treat people and people’s concerns.”

Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn added: “It’s a remarkably silly thing to do. There are plenty of ways of getting rid of sensitive documents.”

Documents dumped included five Intelligence and Security Committee letters. The ISC is chaired by Sir Malcolm and monitors MI5 and MI6.

One letter suggests the committee “failed to get to the truth on UK involvement” in extraordinary rendition – the secret transporting of terror suspects around the world for interrogation.

Other sensitive material in the haul included a printed email about al-Qaeda’s links to Pakistan and a paper in which the ISC suggests it was not given all the evidence by MI5 and MI6 on the 7/7 terror attacks.

Further papers reveal emails between Mr Letwin and his constituents. Some of these contained personal information including full names, landline, fax and mobile numbers, emails and addresses.

If these got in the wrong hands they could be used illegally.

Shadow minister without portfolio Michael Dugher yesterday wrote to Britain’s top civil servant Sir Gus O’Donnell demanding a probe into whether procedures for the disposal of documents were breached.

In his letter to the Cabinet Secretary, Mr Dugher said: “Civil servants are subject to disciplinary procedures if the proper processes are not adhered to. It cannot be that there is one rule for ministers and another for everyone else.”

Organisations identified in the dumped papers include the European Commission, MoD, Home Office, NHS, Treasury and the Metropolitan Police.

We first caught Mr Letwin dumping documents on September 7. We spotted him repeating his routine again on September 13, 14, 26 and October 10.

Our scoop was followed up by newspapers, television, radio and internet news sites around the world yesterday.

Mr Letwin’s name even trended on social networking website Twitter across the UK as thousands of people used the hashtag #letbin to express outrage at his stupidity. Last night Twitter user Rob Francis, of Basingstoke, Hants, joked: “Liam Fox has resigned.

“He actually handed the resignation letter to Oliver Letwin on Tuesday but the binmen only found it today.”