Victoria and Albert Museum names new director

London’s Victoria and Albert (V&A) museum has named Dr Tristram Hunt as its new director, succeeding Martin Roth, who stepped down from the role in the autumn, after five years in charge.

Hunt is a historian, politician, writer and broadcaster, and an expert on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with a particular focus on Victorian urban history, said the museum, which has one of the world’s largest fashion collections in the world, spanning five centuries.

The museum said that the politician would bring his “widespread expertise across education, industry and politics” to the role, having been at the forefront of political, cultural and public life for the last decade.

Hunt served as a Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central since 2010 and was previously the Shadow Secretary of State and Shadow Minister for Education. He will step down from his political role to take up the position.

Announcing the appointment, V&A chairman Nicholas Coleridge said: “Hunt has a highly compelling mixture of experience across public life, the arts, history, education and academia, and knows our collections well from his writing and broadcasting.

“In addition, he is an informed and articulate leader and communicator on numerous facets of culture, both historic and contemporary, and I greatly look forward to working with him at the V&A.”

Hunt’s appointment comes as the museum is at a moment of transformation, with the new upcoming opening of the new Exhibition Road entrance, and new sites and galleries in Dundee, China and Stratford.

The museum has become known for its fashion exhibitions, in 2015 it hosted the highly successful exhibition on Alexander McQueen, Savage Beauty, and this year it will open a Balenciaga retrospective in May.