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Sir Keir Starmer, leader of Britain’s opposition Labour party, will next week tell Greek premier Kyriakos Mitsotakis he will not stand in the way of a mooted loan deal involving part of the Parthenon sculptures being sent to Athens.
Starmer, who hopes to become UK prime minister next year, will tell Mitsotakis he would not obstruct any mutually acceptable deal between Athens and the British Museum on the future of the so-called Elgin Marbles.
Mitsotakis will raise the question of the 2,500-year-old sculptures during a visit to London next week. He will meet Starmer on Monday and Rishi Sunak, prime minister, in Downing Street on Tuesday, and according to a person close to the Greek prime minister he will raise the issue in both meetings.
Although Greek officials say they do not expect any immediate results from the visit, Mitsotakis has been in discussions with British Museum chair George Osborne for months on the issue.
Osborne has proposed a loan deal in which part of the sculptures would be sent to the Acropolis Museum in Athens in exchange for Greek treasures being sent to the museum in Bloomsbury in central London. Over time, different parts of the sculpture would be put on display in Greece.
“I hope we’ll find a way to partner with Greece so that a portion of the Marbles spend part of their time in Athens . . . and we see more of their treasures in return,” Osborne wrote in the Spectator last week. “We may well not succeed but it’s surely worth the effort.”
However, Mitsotakis is seeking the repatriation and reunification of all the sculptures so the monument can be exhibited in its entirety at the Acropolis Museum.
Starmer, whose Holborn & St Pancras constituency includes the British Museum, will tell the Greek premier that an incoming Labour government would not change the law concerning the sculptures.
A 1963 Act of Parliament stops the British Museum permanently handing back the sculptures. Sunak’s government has also said that it will not change the legislation.
However, the Labour leader’s allies say he is prepared to be flexible. “We’re sticking with the existing law, but if a loan deal that is mutually acceptable to the British Museum and the Greek government can be agreed, we won’t stand in the way,” said one person close to Starmer.
The Labour leader’s office declined to comment ahead of the Greek premier’s visit. A Greek official said that “although the Greek government is not close to an agreement yet, that doesn’t mean we won’t continue to raise the issue”.
Greece believes the marbles were stolen by Lord Elgin in the early 1800s and wants the frieze returned immediately.
Under Osborne’s plan, Greece would not renounce its claim to the sculptures — it would be hard for Mitsotakis to accept a “loan” of what he regards as Greek property — but the British Museum would agree to ship to Athens potentially one-third or more of the marbles for a set time period, such as 10 years.
Sunak has not closed the door on such an arrangement but is also wedded to the law that stops the sculptures being permanently returned. His allies say he is “sceptical” that they would ever come back if they were “loaned” to Athens.
“There was a bit of scepticism when George [Osborne] floated this idea earlier this year. We want the marbles to stay in Britain and there’s a law.”
Lord David Cameron, former UK prime minister and now foreign secretary, is a close friend of Osborne but during his time in Number 10 he said he had no intention of allowing Britain to “lose its marbles”.
A UK government spokesperson said: “The UK has cared for the Elgin Marbles for generations. Our galleries and museums are funded by taxpayers because they are a huge asset to this country.
“We share their treasures with the world, and the world comes to the UK to see them. The collection of the British Museum is protected by law, and we have no plans to change it.”
