Growing disillusionment with politics?
So farewell, lonely keeper of the Blairite flame. You were once seen as a potential future Labour leader. Now you want to train as a community organiser. And you're not the only bright hope to throw in the towel.
Here in America, Senator (Democrat, Indiana) stunned the Washington political establishment by announcing he was giving up politics and going into business or philanthropy. Like Mr Purnell, he was a reforming moderniser for his party and folks had also talked about his leadership potential.
He made it clear that he'd become deeply disillusioned with politics and that he no longer had the stomach for the ways of Washington, which he thought "toxic and partisan and leading to gridlock".
I suspect our James is similarly disillusioned. Of course there is going to be a huge clear out of Parliament come the next election but most of those going are either past their sell-by date or damaged by the expenses scandal. But, like the US Senator, Mr Purnell was thought still to have a glittering political career before him.
I detect a growing disillusion among younger politicians on both sides of the Atlantic. The growing public and media scrutiny of 24/7 news, the difficulty of getting things done and the grinding hours make many wonder if they've chosen the right career.
They look at their contemporaries in media or business and conclude that they have more power/influence over the public debate -- and certainly more money and less intrusion.
Of course politics will survive without Mr Purnell or Senator Bayh and our looming general election may yet produce a Parliament of stellar new talent.
There's still no shortage of people who want to go into politics. But how good are they -- and how long before the disillusion sets in?
This week on this side of the Atlantic there was another sign of that disillusion, perhaps more totemic even that Senator Bayh's departure: youthful Patrick Kennedy announced he would not seek re-election to his Rhode Island seat in the House of Representatives.
In effect he has closed down the family business: for the first time in 60 years there will not be a Kennedy in Washington politics. When even the Kennedys are abandoning politics you know something is wrong.
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