Rishi Sunak accuses Greek PM of grandstanding over Elgin Marbles

29 November 2023 , 12:16

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Rishi Sunak accused Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis of trying to grandstand (Image: BBC Parliament)

Rishi Sunak accused the Greek Prime Minister of "grandstanding" over the Elgin Marbles as the diplomatic row between London and Athens deepened today.

Labour leader Keir Starmer and Mr Sunak clashed over record migration to Britain and the Elgin Marbles at a fiery session of Prime Minister’s Questions.

The Labour leader taunted the Prime Minister over the fiasco surrounding the ancient sculptures removed from Greece in the early 19th Century. Rattled Mr Sunak scrapped a meeting with Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis this week after the Hellenic leader broke a pledge not to use his trip to press for the Marbles to be returned to Athens.

Escalating the row with Greece, Mr Sunak claimed Mr Mitsotakis was trying to "grandstand" over the repatriation row. He said: "Of course, we're always happy to discuss important topics of substance with our allies like tackling illegal migration or indeed strengthening our security. But when it was clear that the purpose of the meeting was not to discuss substantive issues for the future, but rather to grandstand and relitigate issues of the past, it wasn't appropriate.

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"But furthermore, when specific commitments and specific assurances on that topic were made to this country, and then were broken, it may seem alien to him but my view is when people make commitments, they should keep them." The Labour boss accused the Premier of “trying to humiliate” his Greek counterpart.

Mr Starmer told the PM: “Never mind the British Museum, it’s the Prime Minister who has obviously lost his marbles.”

The sculptures once adorned the Parthenon at the Acropolis in Athens. They were removed by British diplomat Lord Elgin while Athens was still under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and have been in the British Museum since 1816. Athens wants them back, with Mr Mitsotakis claiming their removal was like cutting the Mona Lisa in half. There have been talks around a potential loan of the sculptures, but No 10 has insisted that Athens would have to accept they belong to the British Museum for that to even be an option.

The Labour leader also pushed the Conservative chief over record net migration figures showing 1.3million more people came to the UK over the past two years than left. But the PM claimed Labour’s “backroom deal with the EU” would allow “an additional 100,000 migrants” into Britain “every year”. Mr Sunak, who has been battered by Tory backbenchers over the record figures, admitted: “The levels of migration are far too high and I am determined to bring them back down to sustainable levels.”

Ben Glaze