Elgin Marbles could be returned with new laws

THE Elgin Marbles could be returned to Greece by changing the law, newly declassified government documents have revealed.

The British Museum is prohibited from disposing of anything from its collection under a 1963 Act of Parliament and bosses regularly point to the legislation after receiving a request to return once-looted goods.

This week documents obtained by The Art Newspaper have emerged in which the 1991 British ambassador in Athens admits that the issue of the marbles is one “we can never win”.

“The best we can do is to keep our heads down as far as possible: and avoid using defensive arguments here in Greece which will sound hollow in Greek ears,” David Miers wrote in a Foreign Office report. “For instance I do not think the argument about the trustees of the museum is a very good one for use here. The Greeks know we could legislate if we wanted: the problem for them is we don’t want to.”

The file deals with a visit to Greece by Timothy Renton, the then Tory arts minister.

The notes have surfaced following a meeting between Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek prime minister, and Boris Johnson. It was the first face-to-face meeting between the leaders to formally raise the issue of the marbles. Mr Johnson said he understood the “strength of feeling” of the Greek people, but told Mr Mitsotakis that he would have to take up his cause with the trustees of the British Museum as it was not a governmental issue.

However, a letter reportedly written by Mr Johnson to a provincial Greek official in 2012 – when he was the Mayor of London, paints a different picture.

Mr Johnson admitted that the Parthenon sculptures should “never have been removed from the Acropolis”.

But he ended his letter: “Much as I sympathise with the case for restitution to Athens, I feel that on balance I must defend the interests of London.”

‘The Greeks know that we could legislate but we don’t want to’