Greek Prime Minister has been calling for the return of the entire Parthenon frieze to Athens since taking office five years ago.
Dominic Alves
The political row surrounding the British Museum’s custodianship of the Parthenon sculptures, also known as the Elgin Marbles, has deepened as the Greek Prime Minister expressed his “displeasure” at Rishi Sunak's decision to cancel a meeting between the two leaders hours before it was due to take place.
Sunak was due to meet Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Downing Street this morning (28 November) but reportedly pulled out in response to comments made by Mitsotakis in a BBC interview in which he argued for the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures at Greece’s Acropolis Museum.
Mitsotakis said: “Where can you best appreciate what is essentially one monument? I mean, it’s as if I told you that you would cut the Mona Lisa in half, and you would have half of it at the Louvre and half of it at the British Museum.”
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Confirming that Sunak had cancelled the meeting and that Mitsotakis had turned down an alternative get-together with the Deputy Prime Minister, Transport Secretary Mark Harper, said: “The government set out its position about the Elgin Marbles very clearly, which is that they should stay as part of the permanent collection of the British Museum.”
Asked whether Sunak's cancellation amounted to a snub, Harper said: “I’ve set out the position.”
In response, Mitsotakis, who has called for the return of the entire Parthenon frieze to Athens since taking office five years ago, said: “Anyone who believes in the correctness and justice of their positions is never afraid of opposing arguments.”
Mitstokakis did meet with Labour Leader Keir Starmer, ahead of which one of his close aides told the Financial Times: “If a loan deal that is mutually acceptable to the British government and the Greek government will be agreed, we won’t stand in the way.”
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