Elgin Marbles: Osborne on 'deal to be done' with Greece
Sir Keir Starmer has fuelled fears he could "curry favour" with Greece by agreeing to their demands for the return of the Elgin Marbles if he wins the next election.
The Labour leader is set to meet the Prime Minister of Greece today, who has been leading an intensive lobbying campaign pushing for the ancient sculptures to be returned to Athens.
Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday, Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the presence of the Elgin marbles in the British Museum is like cutting the “Mona Lisa in half”.
The 2,500-year-old artefacts - housed in the Museum after being sold to the British government by Lord Elgin in 1816 - have been at the heart of one of the world's longest-running and bitterest cultural disputes.
Allies of Sir Keir make clear he will not "stand in the way" of any loan agreed between the Greek Government and the Museum.
The Museum has long been prevented from handing over the artefacts by law, but its chairman George Osborne recently expressed his hope to "reach an agreement" to see them temporarily returned to Greece.
Conservative MP Tim Loughton told Express.co.uk: "It is deeply worrying that Keir Starmer is considering treating cultural treasures such as the Elgin Marbles as political trading opportunities to curry favour with other nations."
The former minister said: "This would be the worst possible reason for sending the marbles to Greece and would completely undermine the ability of world museums such as the British Museum to showcase the history of man’s cultural achievements to the wider world.
"The Elgin Marbles were acquired lawfully by the British Museum as determined in lengthy scrutiny by parliament over 200 years ago and as such are seen by millions of people for free from around the world in the context of an exhaustive array of other cultural treasures from many other cultures."
He added: "It would be a highly retrograde step if a future Labour government was to turn the Elgin Marbles into political pawns. What else would we need to give away to promote diplomatic relations? Gibraltar, the Rosetta Stone?"
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Kyriakos Mitsotakis advocates for 'reunification' of Elgin Marbles
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David Campbell Bannerman, chair of the Conservative Democratic Organisation said Sir Keir risked making an "empty token gesture which should be firmly resisted".
"If there is any case for returning the Elgin Marbles, it would be to resell them to the Turks who sold them to Elgin," he added.
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The Scottish aristocrat secured the treasures from the Ottoman government, which controlled Greece at the time.
Earlier this year, Rishi Sunak made clear he would not change the Government's longstanding position in preventing the Museum by law from handing over the Elgin Marbles.
The Prime Minister told reporters: “The UK has cared for the Elgin Marbles for generations.
“Our galleries and museums are funded by taxpayers because they are a huge asset to this country. We share their treasures with the world, and the world comes to the UK to see them. The collection of the British Museum is protected by law, and we have no plans to change it."
The Labour leader has yet to comment openly but an ally told the Financial Times: “We’re sticking with the existing law, but if a loan deal that is mutually acceptable to the British Museum and the Greek government can be agreed, we won’t stand in the way,
The remarks confirm recent claims in Greek media about Sir Keir's openness to appeasing Greek demands for the Elgin Marbles. According to the leading newspaper Ta Nea, he is "favourable" to "finding a legal formula that will allow for the eventual return of the Marbles”.
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