It was less the night of the long knives, more the day of the long, white envelopes as ministers queued to hand their resignation letters to prime minister Gordon Brown.
The highest-profile valediction came from home secretary Jacqui Smith, but it was children's minister Beverley Hughes's notice that she would be standing down as an MP that should cause some alarm in these parts.
For Hughes is a rare species in government: she has hands-on experience in the social care field as a probation officer and as a lecturer in Manchester University's department of social work.
Also rare for a minister, she has spent four years in the same government job, a length of time that would be considered a career in other walks of life.
Her advocacy of the Every Child Matters agenda was doubtless a force for good and her persistence with Sure Start - which the Tories have pledged to abolish - displayed her commitment to early years. The child poverty targets have formed the proverbial albatross around her neck but running the economy is not within her remit.
So why step down now? The official reason is to spend more time with her family.
But with Ed Balls tipped to become chancellor, surely Hughes had ambitions to take on his stewardship of children, schools and families. Perhaps she had got wind that she was not in the running.
In short, she had gone as far as she could in a department that meant everything to her.
What it does mean is that, with the now BASW chief executive Hilton Dawson having left parliament in 2005 and the sidelining of Ivan Lewis after allegations about his texting thumbs, social workers are about to lose another important representative in parliament.
Is there anyone else out there who can step up?
It is great that she has hands on experience. However there is a difference between being a social worker and probation officer. What is rather strange is that she was a probation officer and then becomes a lecturer in social work?? As someone who recently completed my MA in SW I do think we neeed more practicing social workers getting into the class room to teach. I do agree that we need more social work representatives getting out there for social work. Someone from an actual social work background going into politics would be very welcomed. However, I dont see this happening politics thats a closed circle.
It should not be! When do we start the revolution?
We need those who are supposedly representing us (probably better to say YOU as I am an alien and not allowed to vote despite having lived in this country since 1982!) to be fully accountable and responsible for their actions, face the consequences of their wrong-doing. They should not get a golden handshake as that sets a wrong example.
We need people who want to make a difference, not just say it and see politics as a way of lining their own pockets!
It's not that strange that Beverly Hughes went from being a probation officer to a lecturer in social work - remember that Probation was once seen as a part of social work, and it wasn't until 1994 that Probation Officer training was seperated from the rest of social work education (In Scotland you still get Criminal Justice Social workers).
The fact that 15 years later, it seems inconcievable that probation has anything to do with social work practice shows the erosion of areas in which social work is seen to contribute, and I think illustrates what would be likely to happen if Children's and Adult social work training were to become separated.