Greece-ing the wheels? Lord Cameron ‘tries to smooth over’ extraordinary Elgin Marbles row after Rishi Sunak snubs meeting with Greek PM over call for them to be returned

Lord Cameron is leading efforts to smooth relations with Greece amid a deepening row over the Parthenon sculptures.

The Foreign Secretary met with his Greek counterpart Giorgos Gerapetritis at a NATO summit last night, amid Athenian anger at Britain’s diplomatic shoulder to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Rishi Sunak canceled talks with his colleague yesterday after Mitsotakis said in a TV interview last weekend that continued British ownership of the sculptures – known as the Elgin Marbles – was tantamount to ‘tearing the Mona Lisa in half’.

The move surprised Westminster and infuriated Greece, which accused Mr Sunak of having “domestic reasons” for the criticism, noting that Mr Sunak was “quite behind in the polls” ahead of the likely general election next year .

Mr Gerapetritis highlighted Athens’ claim to the Marbles when he attended the summit in Brussels with Lord Cameron.

“The unification of the Parthenon sculptures is a claim based not only on history, not only on justice, but it is a claim on ecumenical cultural values,” he said.

“Regardless of this, I understand that we need to work with Britain on a bilateral basis and that we will serve this purpose in the future to deepen the long history that we have, the two nations.”

No. 10 said Mr Sunak decided to abandon face-to-face talks with his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis after feeling he had backtracked on ‘reassurances’ that he would not use his visit to Britain as a ‘public platform’ to demand its return. to Athens from the Elgin Marbles.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Mr Sunak was concerned that any bilateral discussion with Mr Mitsotakis would be “dominated” by the issue of the ancient artefacts, also known as the Parthenon sculptures, following comments by the Greek leader in an interview. on Sunday.

Mr Mitsotakis told the BBC that the current situation with the marbles was akin to cutting the Mona Lisa painting in half.

Greece has long demanded the return of the historic works, which were removed from Athens in the early 19th century by Lord Elgin when he was British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.

The Elgin Marbles are part of the friezes that adorned the 2,500-year-old Parthenon Temple on the Acropolis and have been on display at the British Museum in London for more than 200 years.

The rest of the friezes are in a purpose-built museum in Athens.

The debate over whether to return items brought to Britain during the British Empire has become a battleground in the so-called culture wars that Mr Sunak’s Conservative Party is accused of trying to exploit.

Dimitris Tsiodras, director of the Greek prime minister’s press office, said on Tuesday that Mitsotakis was angry about what he called a “British misstep”.

But the spokesperson stressed that talks about the ‘reunification’ of the sculptures would continue.

He said: “I don’t think the effort stops there.

‘Obviously there are domestic reasons and 2024 is an election year and (Mr Sunak) is quite behind in the polls… but the discussion with the British Museum is ongoing.’

Sunak’s Conservatives are around 20 points behind Sir Keir Starmer’s Labor Party in the opinion polls ahead of the election due in January 2025.

Asked whether the diplomatic row with Greece was politically motivated, Sunak’s spokesman said: ‘No. I have spoken at length about the reasons why the meeting is not happening.

“Those are the reasons, there’s nothing more to it.”

Number 10 said it was keen to avoid a repeat of Mr Mitsotakis’ visit to Britain in 2021, when the government felt he had used the trip as an opportunity to publicly push for the return of the marbles.

Mr Mitsotakis had said prior to that occasion two years ago, when Boris Johnson was Prime Minister, that the 17 figures in London “belonged in the Acropolis Museum”.

Ahead of this week’s visit, Downing Street confirmed it was “seeking assurances” that similar public statements would not be made, but Mr Mitsotakis continued to make his Mona Lisa comparison anyway.

The comments irritated No 10, with the Prime Minister’s spokesman telling reporters that Mr Sunak decided it would be “not productive” to continue with a meeting that was likely to be overshadowed by the debate.

The PA news agency understands that the Greek side disagrees with No 10’s characterization of the situation.

Athens’ view is that the idea that Mr Mitsotakis would come to London and not respond to a question about the marbles in an interview is nonsense.

But Downing Street said Sunday’s comments had put the marbles “front and center in the debate”.

“It is clearly up to the Greek government which media they choose to use, but if they have given assurances that they will not try to publish this, we do not think those assurances have been kept,” the prime minister’s spokesman said.

Number 10 said it was offering talks with Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden instead, but that goes against usual protocol which would normally mean a visiting Prime Minister would meet Mr Sunak, rather than a younger minister.

In a strongly worded statement on Monday, a spokesman for the Greek Prime Minister’s Office said Mitsotakis was “disappointed” and “extremely surprised” that his British counterpart had canceled their meeting “at the eleventh hour.”

A Greek source said they were particularly confused by Mr Sunak’s decision as preventing the sea crossing of migrants – one of Mr Sunak’s top five priorities – was high on the agenda.

The chairman of the British Museum, George Osborne, a former Tory chancellor, has previously said he is exploring ways to exhibit the Elgin Marbles in Greece, with speculation that this could involve a loan deal that would see part of the set sent to Athens would be sent.

But Downing Street made it clear that Mr Sunak still sees the museum as their rightful home and that a loan cannot take place without the Greeks accepting the museum as the legal owner.

Ministers have no plans to change the 1963 British Museum Act, which bans the removal of objects from the institution’s collection, No 10 confirmed this week.

Labor leader Sir Keir met Mr Mitsotakis on Monday around the same time his team was told there was a meeting with the Prime Minister.

The marbles were not mentioned in the reading of their conversations, but the opposition leader had indicated that while he would tell the Greek Prime Minister that a Labor government would not change the law, he would not include a loan deal that was acceptable to both parties. would be away.