When I meet the culture minister Margaret Hodge she has not been in her new role long and is admiring the various artworks she has chosen from the Government Art Collection to decorate her office.
Out have gone her predecessor David Lammy's choices, such as works by Chris Ofili, LS Lowry and Seamus Nicolson. They have been replaced by a painting of Regent's Park by Adrian Berg, photography by the Scottish-Chinese-Mauritian artist Gayle Chong Kwan and a work by David Nash, best known for his large, wooden sculptures.
But taste in art is not the only thing that distinguishes the MP for Barking from the previous culture minister: in many ways, they could not be more different.
Hodge was born in Egypt, in 1944. She was the daughter of a refugee millionaire German Jewish steel trader and his Austrian wife, who came to London after the second world war. She entered politics as a councillor in the London Borough of Islington in 1973, the year after the birth of Lammy, who was one of five children raised by a single mother in Tottenham, north London.
Hodge went on to become the leader of Islington council from 1982 to 1992. It was during this period that she faced criticism of her response to allegations of the abuse of children in the council's care, which became the major blackspot in her political career. She left Islington to become a consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, before becoming an MP in 1994.
But even though Hodge is very different from Lammy, she is keen to praise the past regime's work with museums and to stress the need for continuity. "I feel lucky to come in at this legacy point, and clearly the challenge is to sustain that in a very tough fiscal environment," she says. "Concern number one is sustaining Renaissance."
Hodge points to other government policies, particularly free admission to national museums, as successful initiatives that need to be built on. But there will also be a change of emphasis under Hodge and her boss, the new culture secretary James Purnell. There is likely to be a lighter touch, with fewer targets imposed on museums and galleries.
In his first speech to the sector at London's National Portrait Gallery, Purnell said that while widening access would continue to be important, he would like to see as much emphasis placed on promoting excellence in the arts.
"I think what James was saying, which is really important, is that excellence matters and we should encourage and nurture that," says Hodge. "But equally important is ensuring opportunity for more and more people to access that excellence. Ensuring opportunity for all is a basic tenet of Labour government policy, and it affects everything we do."
What's behind this, and it's a view Hodge says she shares, is Purnell's belief that the arts has an intrinsic value that is ultimately more important than its ability to tackle issues such as social exclusion. The result is Purnell's review into how the government can support excellence in the arts.
It is being led by Brian McMaster, a former director of the Edinburgh International Festival and a member of Arts Council England, who is expected to report to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) this autumn.
An arts and culture person
Hodge has already been visiting museums and galleries to get an idea of some of the other issues that museums face. In the first couple of months after her appointment she had managed to make the short journey across Trafalgar Square from the DCMS offices to the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery, but also had time to get to the Antony Gormley exhibition at the Hayward, and take her granddaughter to the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green.
Her biography from the DCMS lists her interests as family, opera, piano and cooking, but Hodge says museums and galleries are also important, and she often visited with her four children when they were young.
"I am a museum visitor and wherever I travel I'll look for the museum - that is probably the way I express myself," she says. "I am just an arts and culture person, but I never have enough time. I will now have more time, so it's brilliant."
So what other issues has Hodge picked up on while visiting museums and being briefed by DCMS staff? "The whole issue of acquisitions is clearly a pretty important one," she says. "I want to think carefully whether I can do something to help release more giving by individuals in the UK."
There are certainly many museums that would welcome help with acquisitions. While there are important incentives linked to inheritance tax, there is little to encourage people to give during their lifetime.
Proposals to change this have been looked at several times, and as recently as 2004 the Goodison Review recommended that the government should introduce income tax relief on gifts of artworks. But the proposal was not implemented and it might be tough to change the Treasury's mind.
Hodge is also mulling over securing more money from the Regional Development Agencies (RDA) for arts and culture. She says the arts should be at the heart of regeneration and should therefore be able to access some of the RDAs' £2.3bn budget.
Identifying priorities
The ideas on regeneration come from Hodge's previous job at the Department for Trade and Industry, where she was responsible for the regions. Her other government roles also bring a knowledge of education, as she was the first minister for children from 2003 until 2005 and before that looked after lifelong learning and education. She says there are "huge, huge, huge opportunities for museums and education".
Hodge also has a longstanding interest in gender issues, which might become significant in a sector where only four of the 22 DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries have female directors. But Lammy's drive to create a more ethnically diverse workforce will also continue to be an issue.
"There is a long way to go on ethnic diversity," says Hodge. "It is quite noticeable in London museums that there are a lack of black and minority ethnic people (BME) working there, when London is 40 per cent BME. There is a lot of work to be done."
In her first few months as culture minister, Hodge seems to have grasped many of the challenges faced by museums and galleries. She says she "would love to become involved in the debate" around de-accessioning.
Those in the sector who have met Hodge talk about how interested and enthusiastic she seems. David Fleming, the director of National Museums Liverpool, was with her at the August opening of the International Slavery Museum.
He says: "My first impressions were very positive - she spoke her mind, she was very tuned in and she listened. She also seemed capable of being quite tough, and that is important in a ministry that is easily overlooked in the scramble for resources."
She also visited the Museum of London in her first few days in the new job, and the museum's director, Jack Lohman, was encouraged as well: "I was hugely impressed. She seemed to be exceptionally well briefed and what I really noticed was her ability to connect with my staff."
Meeting and greeting will be the easy part for someone as charming and self-assured as Hodge, but getting a fair deal in the comprehensive spending review might be more difficult. Her and Purnell are making all the right noises about funding, but it's the noises that come from the Treasury that will be most important.
Hodge may feel lucky to come in at this "legacy point", but if museums are hit hard in the spending round, her relationship with the sector could soon become less cosy.
Out have gone her predecessor David Lammy's choices, such as works by Chris Ofili, LS Lowry and Seamus Nicolson. They have been replaced by a painting of Regent's Park by Adrian Berg, photography by the Scottish-Chinese-Mauritian artist Gayle Chong Kwan and a work by David Nash, best known for his large, wooden sculptures.
But taste in art is not the only thing that distinguishes the MP for Barking from the previous culture minister: in many ways, they could not be more different.
Hodge was born in Egypt, in 1944. She was the daughter of a refugee millionaire German Jewish steel trader and his Austrian wife, who came to London after the second world war. She entered politics as a councillor in the London Borough of Islington in 1973, the year after the birth of Lammy, who was one of five children raised by a single mother in Tottenham, north London.
Hodge went on to become the leader of Islington council from 1982 to 1992. It was during this period that she faced criticism of her response to allegations of the abuse of children in the council's care, which became the major blackspot in her political career. She left Islington to become a consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, before becoming an MP in 1994.
But even though Hodge is very different from Lammy, she is keen to praise the past regime's work with museums and to stress the need for continuity. "I feel lucky to come in at this legacy point, and clearly the challenge is to sustain that in a very tough fiscal environment," she says. "Concern number one is sustaining Renaissance."
Hodge points to other government policies, particularly free admission to national museums, as successful initiatives that need to be built on. But there will also be a change of emphasis under Hodge and her boss, the new culture secretary James Purnell. There is likely to be a lighter touch, with fewer targets imposed on museums and galleries.
In his first speech to the sector at London's National Portrait Gallery, Purnell said that while widening access would continue to be important, he would like to see as much emphasis placed on promoting excellence in the arts.
"I think what James was saying, which is really important, is that excellence matters and we should encourage and nurture that," says Hodge. "But equally important is ensuring opportunity for more and more people to access that excellence. Ensuring opportunity for all is a basic tenet of Labour government policy, and it affects everything we do."
What's behind this, and it's a view Hodge says she shares, is Purnell's belief that the arts has an intrinsic value that is ultimately more important than its ability to tackle issues such as social exclusion. The result is Purnell's review into how the government can support excellence in the arts.
It is being led by Brian McMaster, a former director of the Edinburgh International Festival and a member of Arts Council England, who is expected to report to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) this autumn.
An arts and culture person
Hodge has already been visiting museums and galleries to get an idea of some of the other issues that museums face. In the first couple of months after her appointment she had managed to make the short journey across Trafalgar Square from the DCMS offices to the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery, but also had time to get to the Antony Gormley exhibition at the Hayward, and take her granddaughter to the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green.
Her biography from the DCMS lists her interests as family, opera, piano and cooking, but Hodge says museums and galleries are also important, and she often visited with her four children when they were young.
"I am a museum visitor and wherever I travel I'll look for the museum - that is probably the way I express myself," she says. "I am just an arts and culture person, but I never have enough time. I will now have more time, so it's brilliant."
So what other issues has Hodge picked up on while visiting museums and being briefed by DCMS staff? "The whole issue of acquisitions is clearly a pretty important one," she says. "I want to think carefully whether I can do something to help release more giving by individuals in the UK."
There are certainly many museums that would welcome help with acquisitions. While there are important incentives linked to inheritance tax, there is little to encourage people to give during their lifetime.
Proposals to change this have been looked at several times, and as recently as 2004 the Goodison Review recommended that the government should introduce income tax relief on gifts of artworks. But the proposal was not implemented and it might be tough to change the Treasury's mind.
Hodge is also mulling over securing more money from the Regional Development Agencies (RDA) for arts and culture. She says the arts should be at the heart of regeneration and should therefore be able to access some of the RDAs' £2.3bn budget.
Identifying priorities
The ideas on regeneration come from Hodge's previous job at the Department for Trade and Industry, where she was responsible for the regions. Her other government roles also bring a knowledge of education, as she was the first minister for children from 2003 until 2005 and before that looked after lifelong learning and education. She says there are "huge, huge, huge opportunities for museums and education".
Hodge also has a longstanding interest in gender issues, which might become significant in a sector where only four of the 22 DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries have female directors. But Lammy's drive to create a more ethnically diverse workforce will also continue to be an issue.
"There is a long way to go on ethnic diversity," says Hodge. "It is quite noticeable in London museums that there are a lack of black and minority ethnic people (BME) working there, when London is 40 per cent BME. There is a lot of work to be done."
In her first few months as culture minister, Hodge seems to have grasped many of the challenges faced by museums and galleries. She says she "would love to become involved in the debate" around de-accessioning.
Those in the sector who have met Hodge talk about how interested and enthusiastic she seems. David Fleming, the director of National Museums Liverpool, was with her at the August opening of the International Slavery Museum.
He says: "My first impressions were very positive - she spoke her mind, she was very tuned in and she listened. She also seemed capable of being quite tough, and that is important in a ministry that is easily overlooked in the scramble for resources."
She also visited the Museum of London in her first few days in the new job, and the museum's director, Jack Lohman, was encouraged as well: "I was hugely impressed. She seemed to be exceptionally well briefed and what I really noticed was her ability to connect with my staff."
Meeting and greeting will be the easy part for someone as charming and self-assured as Hodge, but getting a fair deal in the comprehensive spending review might be more difficult. Her and Purnell are making all the right noises about funding, but it's the noises that come from the Treasury that will be most important.
Hodge may feel lucky to come in at this "legacy point", but if museums are hit hard in the spending round, her relationship with the sector could soon become less cosy.