The total figure is still low by the five-million-plus standards of the British Museum and National Gallery, but they are heading rapidly in the right direction. This has given him the breathing-space he needed to pursue his strategy. Seeing no reason to ditch good ideas from the previous administration, he is a fervent supporter of the long-delayed extension plan for the museum, Daniel Libeskind’s “Spiral”. That alone accounts for half of the £150m figure and will become the museum’s long-awaited focus for contemporary design and architecture across the spectrum of its collections.

“There’s an awful lot to do,” muses Jones when I meet him in his office to preview the plans. “But if you break it down into bits, over a period of time, each bit is do-able. This is not a Parisian-style big-bang ‘Grand Projet’. I’m hoping to keep all the galleries in use. I hope people will enjoy the process.”

But it will be at least another five years until the Spiral is built and open for business, and even that depends on private fundraising hitting a £50m target by next year. This is, remember, a Millennium project that the Millennium Commission - which always preferred curvy buildings to jagged ones - refused to fund. Jones says he is “quietly optimistic” that a few key private donors are in the frame to get the funding momentum going. Impatient to make the modern world more visible in the meantime, Jones has acted quickly to plug the perceived hole in the museum’s coverage of contemporary culture. Today (April 21) sees the opening of the “Contemporary Space”, a large former sculpture gallery close to the main entrance that he has cleared out for the purpose.

Designed by architect Gareth Hoskins in an industrial-minimalism style guaranteed to appeal to London’s loft-dwellers, the space opens with “Milan in a Van”, a display of what is hoped will be cutting-edge modern design brought directly in a furniture van from the annual Milan Furniture Fair. In truth the Milan Fair is a hugely over-hyped trade show depending on the same handful of ageing star designers working for a very few companies, mostly German and Italian - but it gets the glossy interiors magazines terribly excited and occasionally reveals fresh talent. The burgeoning contemporary-interiors market is one that the V&A is keen to tap into. A new architecture gallery, also designed by Hoskins, is planned for the floor above in collaboration with the Royal Institute of British Architects.