British politics is undermined by reshuffles, MPs warn The committee said reshuffles have become a "habit" in the UK and that the government needs a "change of mindset." Regular changes make it more difficult for Parliament to hold the responsible minister to account for policy failures because they may have been moved from their post before problems with a decision emerge, MPs said. In his evidence to the committee Sir John Major, the former Prime Minister, admitted he had made mistakes in his reshuffles. He said: "Few members reach Cabinet and I should, perhaps, have taken greater priority to matching abilities with portfolios. The committee called for outgoing ministers to hand over directly to their successors and suggested that a compulsory training programme, along with annual appraisals, should also be introduced. The committee also said it had seen no evidence that serious consideration had been given to cutting the number of ministers in light of devolution to Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. Committee chairman Graham Allen said: "Reshuffles are damaging to the effectiveness of individual ministers and of government as a whole. They also hinder Parliament's ability to hold government to account. In the UK, we've got used to having reshuffles every couple of years, but other countries manage very well without them. Every time there is a reshuffle, it is proceeded by months of speculation about who will move where, which in itself causes a kind of paralysis within government. I welcome the fact that the current Prime Minister has had only one reshuffle. I hope our report will encourage future prime ministers to follow his example. We call for Secretaries of State to be left in post for the length of a Parliament. Taken together with the advent of fixed-term Parliaments, this should enable them to make a real difference. We heard a great deal of evidence about the irrationality of reshuffles. We recognise that, at their heart, reshuffles are political events. But our report makes some recommendations to improve training, feedback and handovers, which are aimed at making the process more rational.