It should have been an easy win and this week he nearly succeeded - but you wouldn't think so. Yet again Labour snatches defeat from the jaws of victory. The good news is that next year all national collections that currently charge will be free to pensioners, children and those on benefits. But instead it has left the museum world angry and edgy. But Chris Smith, like any minister, can't guarantee a budget in, say, five years' time, so uncertainty remains.
Museums expect to rake in far more from their shops and cafes with so many extra visitors.
The villain is customs and excise and Chris Smith lost the crucial battle with them. Perversely, they only let businesses collect VAT rebates. The British Museum has a huge building project on which they can't reclaim most VAT because they don't charge. But it's not even that simple. Behind the scenes the BM and others each negotiate private deals with customs so they don't actually pay full VAT, but a sum secretly agreed.