One may be a coincidence. Two looks, well, much more interesting.
Hot on the heels of news that the Equality and Human Rights commission's chief executive, Nicola Brewer, is stepping down, it has emerged that a second senior figure, the commission's director of strategy, Patrick Diamond, is also leaving. Critically, he will be gone before the government's landmark bill on tackling inequality is due to be published.
The sudden departure of Brewer – a former senior diplomat who has made several controversial interventions in the debate about working women – has raised eyebrows.
She is said to have clashed with the commission's chair, Trevor Phillips, and has been considering an exit for some time.
"Trevor and Nicola never did get on well," a senior commission source said. "She's a consummate civil servant and he is not. They are at very different ends of the spectrum."
Phillips hinted as much on Friday when, in an address to staff, he remarked that "any chair of any serious organisation knows that a good CEO is not the same thing as a compliant CEO. I know that I will miss our working together."
Diamond's recall to No 10, where he worked under Tony Blair as a senior policy adviser, will surprise some in Whitehall – having worked for Peter Mandelson, Alan Milburn and finally Blair, as an adviser, he was never seen as close to Gordon Brown.
However, he is one of a number of former Mandelson advisers returning to the fold after the business secretary's own comeback.
He is leaving without working his notice, meaning he will be back in Downing Street in time for the critical stages of Cabinet negotiation over Harriet Harman's equality bill, covering issues from equal pay to discrimination on the grounds of social class.
That means this is not just a game of quango musical chairs, but could change the balance of power in arguments about the bill.
Brewer's new job has not been disclosed, but is expected to be in the senior civil service.
She sparked controversy last year by suggesting women's career prospects could be damaged by extended rights to maternity leave which made them less attractive to some employers, arguing that any further leave should be shared with men so women were not pigeonholed as the parents whose careers were always disrupted by having children.
Last week, she upset campaigners again by suggesting the government could not afford to bring in mandatory pay audits, which force companies to assess whether they pay women and men on their staff fairly, during the current economic crisis.
Her departure was on announced to staff on the same day she wrote an article denying that the commission believed equal pay was "a step too far" during a recession and trumpeting some forthcoming announcements on parental leave and flexible working.
Her replacement will be watched with interest ...
