Claudia Winkleman joins British Museum trustee board
- maxwell museums
- Mar 23
- 2 min read
Claudia Winkleman has been appointed a trustee of the British Museum.
The Traitors and Strictly Come Dancing presenter is one of five new trustees appointed to the museum’s board by UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
Winkleman said she was “deeply honoured” to be joining the museum, which is the most-visited attraction in the country.
“The British Museum has been an integral part of my life since childhood” Winkleman said in a statement. From “weekly trips with my father segueing to days of study through my university years and now regular visits with my own children,” she said she hopes to “help it to continue its mission to curate, conserve and explain our history for the benefit and education of all.”
The other figures appointed were The Rest Is History podcast co-host Tom Holland, BBC Radio 4’s Martha Kearney, Times columnist and Tory Peer Lord Finkelstein, and author and academic Tiffany Jenkins.
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Lord Finkelstein is a stalwart of the Conservative Party, and was very close to George Osborne when he was Chancellor. Osborne is now the Chair of Trustees of the British Museum.
Finkelstein said the museum “has been an important part of my life since my Dad took me when I was very young. Queuing for the Tutankhamun exhibition remains one of the strongest memories of my childhood. And I have loved it ever since. I am thrilled to be a Trustee.”
Writer and academic Dr Tiffany Jenkins has been a long-standing defender of the British Museum retaining the Parthenon Sculptures as her 2016 book — titled Keeping Their Marbles: How the Treasures of the Past Ended up in Museums and Why They Should Keep Them — makes clear. In 2023, writing for online magazine Spiked, she said “there’s no need to change the status quo by ‘returning’ the marbles.'”
Osborne has been pushing for years to find an “arrangement where at some point some of the sculptures are in Athens.” While discussions are languishing, if a deal does appear, eyes will be on whether Jenkins supports it.
Jenkins said “I am honoured to support the British Museum as a Trustee, especially during this pivotal time in its history. Having admired its exceptional collections and ethos for decades, I look forward to contributing to its continued success.”
Martha Kearney — who stepped down from presenting BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in July 2024 after six years — said that the museum is “literally my happy place — I am so proud to become a Trustee and have the chance to contribute to a museum that I love.”
Historian Tom Holland said serving the museum was both an “honour and a dream come true.”
These five appointments join 15 current serving Trustees on the British Museum’s board — these include classics professor Dame Mary Beard and artist Dame Tracy Emin. They were announced alongside six new trustees appointed to the V&A’s board.