Tristram Hunt is to resign as a Labour MP to take up the job of director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, triggering a byelection in his vulnerable constituency in Stoke.

Why Stoke-on-Trent is a microcosm of the battle for Labour's soul Read more

The former shadow education secretary, who hoped to succeed Ed Miliband as leader in 2015, has been fiercely critical of Jeremy Corbyn and the direction in which he has taken the party.

MPs close to Hunt confirmed he had decided to pursue a career outside politics, and had landed the plum post at one of London’s most prestigious cultural institutions, where his predecessor Martin Roth was paid a salary of more than £145,000 as part of a total package worth at least £225,000.

Hunt insisted his departure was not intended to “rock the boat”. But he had been unhappy for some time, and his departure will add to the woes of Corbyn, who had a spat with his shadow defence secretary, Nia Griffith, over Britain’s role in Nato earlier this week. The two men met to discuss Hunt’s decision and sources close to the Labour leader said that they had “a good conversation about the V&A and culture”.

Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, said: “I am disappointed to see a talented MP like Tristram step down. His departure will be keenly felt by parliament and by the Labour party but I know he will continue to champion Stoke-on-Trent’s proud industrial heritage in his new role at the Victoria and Albert Museum.



“The Labour party will move swiftly to ensure Stoke-on-Trent Central continues to be represented by a strong and capable Labour MP.”

Privately, Labour MPs expressed disappointment. One said: “This is a massive blow. Tristram was a friend and it’s depressing he wants to leave.”



Corbyn said: “I would like to thank Tristram Hunt for his service to the people of Stoke-on-Trent Central and to the Labour party. I wish him well in his future role at the V&A.”

The central Stoke constituency, where Hunt won with a majority of 5,179 in 2015, is one of those where Ukip polled strongly, taking 22.7% of the vote to finish second. Ukip’s new leader, Paul Nuttall, has stressed his determination to take on Labour in its former heartlands and could even stand himself in the byelection.

As well as the V&A post being his “dream job”, Hunt may have been swayed by the fact that his constituency is set to disappear entirely under the initial draft of boundary changes which will see the number of Commons seats fall from 650 to 600.

The constituency would be split between the seats of Stoke-on-Trent North and South, among a series of proposed changes in the area. When the changes were announced, Hunt said they were based on outdated electoral data and were “effectively gerrymandering” by the Conservatives.

Labour’s ruling national executive committee will decide when the byelection will be held, but senior party insiders said it could be on the same day as the tough electoral test in Copeland, Cumbria, for the seat vacated by Jamie Reed, another Corbyn critic who resigned recently.

Labour was pushed into irrelevance in the two most recent byelections. In Richmond Park, the Liberal Democrats won by attracting disgruntled remain voters; in Sleaford and North Hykeham, Labour slipped from second in the 2015 general election to fourth.



But neither of those constituencies is in Labour’s traditional heartlands. The Stoke contest is likely to offer the clearest barometer since the referendum of whether leave-voting Labour supporters still trust the party. Another will come in Leigh, Greater Manchester, if, as expected, Andy Burnham wins the Manchester mayoral race in May.

The byelection could also create a fierce battle over selection, with Labour’s deputy leader Watson and the GMB union, which represents many local ceramics workers, expected to take a keen interest. Corbyn’s allies dominated the shortlisting committee for Copeland and have ruffled the feathers of some in the party by pushing for their preferred candidate, local campaigner Rachel Holliday, a relative newcomer to Labour.

Hunt is far from alone among Labour MPs in being frustrated by the party’s electoral prospects. Some insiders suggested more could follow his lead. But one backbencher close to him said most of his colleagues had dug in for the long haul. “I think there are still flickers of hope; there’s still a chance of this thing shifting and the cycle coming around,” he said.

Peter Mandelson, who was instrumental in helping Hunt to be selected for the seat before the 2010 general election, said: “It’s great for him, but the rest of us have to stay and fight, fight and fight again to save the party we love.”

Hunt’s appointment at the V&A – which was confirmed by the prime minister and the secretary of state for culture, media and sport, Karen Bradley – was a genuine surprise. His name did not crop up in any of the art world gossip which generally precedes big appointments in the sector.



Instead, the most regularly heard tips had been Luke Syson, the former National Gallery curator who is now in charge of European sculpture and decorative arts at the Met in New York; Tim Knox, formerly at Sir John Soane’s Museum in London and now in charge of the Fitzwilliam in Cambridge; and Tim Reeve, the extremely able deputy director of the V&A who has been acting director since Martin Roth’s departure.



There were warm words from senior figures in the art world at Hunt’s appointment. The Art Fund’s director, Stephen Deuchar, called Hunt’s appointment “a very clever choice”.



He said: “I think it is an inspired choice, I really do. He is a great communicator and he is really committed to the social purposes and potential of museums and visual culture more generally.”

Hunt may not have run a museum before but Deuchar, who once ran Tate Britain, said that was not essential: “He knows the UK museum scene better than a lot of museum professionals, I dare say. It looks as if he has the perfect range of experience to apply to this really important job.”

Sandy Nairne, the former director of the National Portrait Gallery, said: “I don’t know Tristram closely but I have known his work in and around the cultural sector and he has been a very strong voice. You think, for example, of his voice in arts and education, his voice in the Wedgwood campaign.



“I have always felt that we should think very openly about the range of talented people who could lead our institutions. It doesn’t do us well to have narrow precepts about who should be doing these things. Leadership can come from many different places so this is a really interesting appointment.”



Tristram Hunt’s resignation letter

One of the first questions for Hunt to answer is on his view of the future of free entry to the V&A. In a 2010 piece for the Guardian, he complained that despite charges for entry to the Potteries Museum in Stoke, “the teeming London museums continue to enjoy a state subsidy to retain free admission” and said that it was time “to think about reintroducing charges for our national museums”. The V&A says that despite that piece he is “fully committed to free museum entrance”.

In his resignation letter to Corbyn, Hunt said life as an MP had been “both deeply rewarding and intensely frustrating” and referred to his dissatisfaction with the Labour party’s response to “the social, cultural and economic forces which have rocked mainstream social democratic and socialist parties” across the world.



“I am sorry to put the party and the people of Stoke-on-Trent through a byelection,” he added. “I have no desire to rock the boat now and anyone who interprets my decision to leave in that way is just plain wrong.” He said he would be impartial in his new position.

In a statement released by the V&A, Hunt said he was “delighted and honoured” by the appointment. “I have loved the V&A since I was a boy, and today it is a global leader in its unrivalled collections, special exhibitions, academic research and visitor experience.”

The V&A chairman, Nicholas Coleridge, said Hunt had “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.”

He added: “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.”



Bradley congratulated Hunt and said: “I look forward to working alongside him.”



The V&A moved quickly to look for a new director after Roth announced his resignation in September, a decision hastened by his disillusionment over the British vote to leave the EU.



In interviews with the German broadcaster DW, Roth said the Brexit vote felt like a personal defeat and he had been particularly upset to hear aggressive “war rhetoric” during the referendum campaign.

Roth was appointed in 2011, becoming the first foreign director of the V&A since it was founded in 1852.