Liam Byrne’s regret over *that* letter – Media roundup: June 14th, 2013

British governments should end a damaging culture of ministerial reshuffles, according to a House of Commons committee. Such regular movement of ministers means that Whitehall does not work effectively and results in a form of paralysis both before and after each change, the MPs said. As a result, the committee calls for secretaries of state to be left in their posts for five years unless they are changed for a specific reason, rather than habit. The findings come amid reports David Cameron is to reshuffle junior and middle ranking ministers in July. The report praises the prime minister for previously resisting regular cabinet reshuffles, having had only one major change in lineup since the general election in May 2010. – Guardian

A former Labour cabinet minister has revealed he will “probably” regret forever leaving a note for his successor to say there was “no money” left when his party lost power in 2010. Ex-Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne said it had been “very foolish” to pen the memo to Lib Dem David Laws. But he told the The House Magazine he had “felt disappointed” when Mr Laws made the correspondence public…The words were: “Dear Chief Secretary, I’m afraid there is no money. Kind regards – and good luck! Liam.” Mr Byrne, who has faced accusations of flippancy over the state of the UK economy, said: “It was a very foolish thing to do. [But] I suppose I did think there was a convention amongst honourable members that private correspondence would stay private. “There’s obviously a very old tradition of these notes that goes back to the 1930s. I felt disappointed that some very old conventions had been cast aside for political advantage.” Asked if he would regret it for rest of his life, he replied: “Probably.” – BBC