What is behind the latest row over the Elgin marbles?

Relations between Britain and Greece are strained once again over the Elgin marbles – or Parthenon marbles, as they are more officially known.

- SEAN O'GRADY

Rishi Sunak was so annoyed by his Greek counterpart, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, talking aloud about their return to Athens that he cancelled their meeting planned for yesterday – a highly unusual snub. The prime minister resented the issue gaining a higher profile, with the risk he would be left looking weak in the face of a foreign threat (absurd as that might sound).

Ownership has been a touchy subject for some decades; they are an ironic totem of British sovereignty given that relatively few Britons know what or where they are. In some circles, mention of them can provoke a paroxysm of post-imperial pride and tenacity. Like many other such national “possessions”, they have become political symbols and thus virtually immune from rational debate. Indeed, such is the current taste for “culture wars” that they are more bitterly contested than ever.

Are we going to give the Parthenon marbles back?

No. There is far too much national pride associated with these artefacts, and even a prime minister in a far stronger position than Mr Sunak would find it difficult to survive the backlash. For the same reason, Labour has made no such promises, though it has to be said that Sir Keir Starmer handled his meeting with Mr Mitsotakis more deftly. (The fact that Mr Mitsotakis met the leader of the Opposition first might have further irritated Mr Sunak).