Greeks unearth Johnson call for return of Elgin marbles

GREEK campaigners calling for the return of the Elgin Marbles to Athens have uncovered an article written by Boris Johnson as a student in which he called for the antiquities to be sent back to Greece.

The Prime Minister has been accused of hypocrisy by Ta Nea, the Greek daily newspaper, after they unearthed a 1986 article in which Johnson accused Lord Elgin of “wholesale pillage”.

The report in Oxford University’s Debate publication, Mr Johnson, the then Union president, concluded: “The Elgin Marbles should leave this northern whisky-drinking guilt-culture and be displayed where they belong.”

He urged his fellow students to vote at a debate for the sculptures to be sent from the British Museum back to Athens.

The discovery of the article will prove embarrassing for Mr Johnson who has fought off a campaign by Kyriakos Mitsotakis, his Greek counterpart, to have the 5th century BC Parthenon frieze returned to Athens.

Elgin removed the sculptures from the Parthenon in the early 19th century, when Greece was under Ottoman rule. He later sold them to the UK Government which handed them on to the British Museum in 1817. Greece has insisted that because the Ottomans were an occupying force they had no right to sanction the frieze’s removal.

A No 10 spokesman said: “The UK’s long-standing position is that the Parthenon Sculptures were acquired legally in accordance with the law at the time.

“Nonetheless, all decisions relating to collections are taken by the trustees of the British Museum and any question about the location of the Parthenon Sculptures is a matter for them.”