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The following email was sent by Director-General Mark Thompson to all staff:

Dear all,

We are announcing this morning that, after a career at the ´óÏó´«Ã½ which has spanned more than thirty years and has included so many achievements on behalf of our audiences in the UK and around the world, my deputy Mark Byford is leaving the organisation.

Mark has played a critical role in recent years as the leader of all journalism across the ´óÏó´«Ã½ and has been an outstanding deputy to me and member of the Executive Board. But as part of our commitment to spend as much of the licence fee as possible on content and services, we've been looking at management numbers and costs across the ´óÏó´«Ã½, and that must include the most senior levels.

We have concluded – and Mark fully accepts – that the work he has done to develop our journalism and editorial standards across the ´óÏó´«Ã½ has achieved the goals we set to such an extent that the role of Deputy Director-General can now end, that the post should close at the end of the current financial year, and that Mark himself should be made redundant. From the start of the new financial year in April 2011, Helen Boaden in the existing role of Director of ´óÏó´«Ã½ News will move onto the Executive Board and will represent the interests of ´óÏó´«Ã½ Journalism there.

Michael Grade once described Mark Byford as the "conscience of the ´óÏó´«Ã½". Anyone who has worked with him - and there are thousands across the Corporation – will attest to his unfailing integrity and loyalty. He has always stood for the highest standards in journalism but also in all his doings at the ´óÏó´«Ã½. But he has also played a central role over the years in modernising ´óÏó´«Ã½ journalism and grasping the promise of this new digital age. I have never had a closer or more supportive relationship with any colleague and cannot begin to express my personal sense of gratitude to Mark for his honesty, steadfastness and energy. I know many of you will feel the same.

Until these changes take effect in April next year, Mark will continue to fulfill all his present roles as both Deputy Director-General and the overall leader of ´óÏó´«Ã½ Journalism.

All the best,

Mark T

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The following email was sent by Deputy Director-General Mark Byford to all staff:

As you will know from Mark Thompson's announcement today, I will leaving the ´óÏó´«Ã½ next year after 32 years continuous service.

Obviously I will be very sad to leave this brilliant organisation that has been such a dominant part of my life for so long. But I know this decision is the right way forward. From a summer holiday job to head of all the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s journalism – I have been fortunate and blessed to have had such a wonderful career at the ´óÏó´«Ã½. Today, I'd like to thank all my close friends and valued colleagues across the ´óÏó´«Ã½ for their friendship and support, and their inspiration, creativity and wisdom. I have learnt so much from so many. I feel privileged and proud to have been a part of the best broadcasting organisation in the world.

Thirty-two years as a member of staff; 13 years on the Executive Board – by some margin its longest serving member; seven years as Deputy Director-General. It will have been a long and eventful innings with such memorable times along the way. But, inevitably, it must end at some point and I recognise the right time has come. Closing my post will be an important contribution at Executive Board level to achieving the overall goals of the senior management review in the coming year and I fully support the decision.

The ´óÏó´«Ã½'s values are what glues this organisation together and makes it so great. I've tried to uphold them throughout my career. My total support for and loyalty to the ´óÏó´«Ã½, and to Mark himself as Director-General, will remain undiminished in future.

My departure in a few months time allows Mark the necessary period to implement his restructure of the Executive Board in an effective manner. Of course, until then, I will continue to give the organisation my fullest support in terms of drive, energy and commitment over the transition.

Warm regards,

Mark B