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UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will meet his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis in London next week against a backdrop of warming bilateral ties and renewed hope of progress on the sensitive subject of the Parthenon Sculptures.
Starmer has made it clear he will not stand in the way of a deal to “loan” some of the so-called Elgin Marbles back to Athens if an agreement can be reached between the British Museum and Greece.
The mood is completely different to the icy reception afforded to Mitsotakis when he arrived in London in November last year, with then-Tory prime minister Rishi Sunak cancelling a meeting at the last minute.
Sunak delivered the snub after Mitsotakis raised the subject of the sculptures, telling the BBC that having the frieze in London was like having the “Mona Lisa” painting “cut in half”.
While Downing Street made it clear that Starmer would not change 1963 legislation that stops the British Museum permanently handing back the 2,500-year-old carvings, officials said he was open to a possible loan deal.
“We are open to whatever is agreed,” said one ally of Starmer. “It’s right to say there is no strong view on what should happen.” The British Museum is located within the prime minister’s Holborn and St Pancras constituency.
George Osborne, former Conservative chancellor and chair of the British Museum, has been trying to negotiate with Mitsotakis an innovative deal that would entail some of the frieze being loaned to the Acropolis Museum in Athens.
Mitsotakis’s visit is part of a broader diplomatic effort to upgrade ties on multiple fronts. Greek officials said the future of the Parthenon Sculptures was expected to come up, and that they were adopting a cautious but optimistic stance. But they insisted the focus of the visit was a wider reset in bilateral relations, including developing relations in a post-Brexit context.
Topics to be raised would include Greece’s non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council starting in January, UK-EU relations and enhanced co-operation in sectors such as shipping, tourism and research, they said.
Discussions on the sculptures had been constructive, aided by Osborne’s “pragmatism” and a positive shift in the outlook of the museum’s board, people familiar with the talks said. Labour’s victory in the July general election was seen as providing fresh momentum, they added.
Asked on Friday if Mitsotakis would request the sculptures’ return, Pavlos Marinakis, a Greek government spokesperson, said: “About the sculptures and the request, the perennial request, of our country for the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures, this is an ongoing request that is being discussed with the British Museum.”
The current framework under consideration involves exchanging parts of the frieze for significant Greek antiquities to be displayed in London.
Both sides have aimed to downplay the question of ownership, but it remains the central sticking point and continues to shape the boundaries of any potential agreement.
A legal resolution that avoids amending British laws, which prohibit de-accession of items from the British Museum’s collection, is being explored as the only feasible path forward.
Timing is also a factor in the discussions, with the closure for renovations of the museum’s Duveen Gallery, where the sculptures are kept, next year creating a potential window for the sculptures’ temporary or partial return.
