Greek Prime Minister calls for return of Elgin Marbles

       A diplomatic row over the Elgin Marbles deepened today as Downing Street accused Greece of breaking an agreement not to use a UK visit to focus on the issue.

       Rishi Sunak last night cancelled a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis after he demanded the return of the Parthenon Sculptures in an interview ahead of the talks.

       Downing Street said today it had been given "reassurances" that Mr Mitsotakis would not use the trip to publicly lobby for the return of the treasures.

       But the BBC cited a Greek source as denying there was any pledge.

       The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "The UK and Greece relationship is hugely important, from our work together in Nato, to tackling shared challenges like illegal migration and joint efforts to resolve the crisis in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine.

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       Fresh tensions are flaring over the Elgin Marbles (Image: GETTY)

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       "When requesting a meeting with the Prime Minister this week, the Greek government provided reassurances that they would not use the visit as a public platform to relitigate long settled matters relating to the ownership of the Parthenon Sculptures, which would only serve to distract from those important issues I just outlined.

       "Given those assurances were not adhered to, the Prime Minister felt it would not be productive to hold a meeting dominated by that issue, rather than the important challenges facing Greek and British people.

       "The Deputy Prime Minister was available to meet the Greek prime minister to discuss the wider topics and we are disappointed the prime minister opted not to take this meeting."

       In an interview on Sunday, Mr Mitsotakis called for the return of the marbles from the British Museum.

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       He told the BBC: "It is as if I told you that you would cut the Mona Lisa in half, and you will have half of it at the Louvre and half of it at the British Museum."

       A Greek source said Mr Mitsotakis had been left "baffled, surprised and not a little bit annoyed" at the cancellation of the meeting.

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

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