The Labour MP Tristram Hunt is to resign his parliamentary seat to take up the directorship of the Victoria & Albert Museum, Politics Home reports. The member for Stoke-on-Trent Central is on the centrist side of the Labour Party and had ruled himself out taking a position on left wing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s frontbench.
As well as being a parliamentarian Hunt has fronted various history programmes on television, makes regular appearances on BBC Radio 4, has written several popular history books and is a lecturer in modern British history at Queen Mary University of London. Hunt’s specialism is urban history, specifically during the Victorian era.
Hunt has previously advocated the reintroduction of entrance fees to major museums. His move will trigger a by-election in a constituency that recorded one of the highest proportion of those who voted for Brexit in the referendum. Hunt held onto his seat at the 2015 general election with a 5,100 majority. UKIP came second.
The outgoing director of the London museum, Martin Roth, who is German, is said to have resigned in disillusionment with the UK’s decision to quit the European Union.
13 January 2017.
