Her issue reached the British Parliament cancellation of the meeting with Kyriakos Mitsotakis by Rishi Sunakwith the UK prime minister defending his stance despite coming under heavy fire from the Labor leader, who accused him of “losing his mind” by punning on the word marbles.
Keir Starmer characteristically said: “He lost his marbles”, i.e. that he “lost them” by mocking Rishi Sunak and accusing him of refusing to meet the Greek Prime Minister, a “a NATO ally, an economic ally, one of our most important partners in the effort to stop illegal immigration” and that instead of using this meeting to discuss important issues “he tried to humiliate him by canceling at the last minute”.
In his first public reaction to the matter, the British Prime Minister implied that the purpose of the Greek side was not “to discuss substantive issues for the future, but rather to analyze and repeat issues of the past”, characterizing the attitude as inappropriate.
It is recalled that Sunak was supposed to have a meeting with the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis this week, but the British Prime Minister canceled it at the last minute because earlier, during a interviewKyriakos Mitsotakis reiterated his desire to see the Parthenon Marbles returned to Greece.
The ancient artefacts were brought to Britain in the 19th century after UK ambassador Lord Elgin removed them from the Acropolis. They are now in the British Museum, with the first official request for their permanent return being made in 1983. The British Museum will hardly give up its claim to the sculptures under the terms of the British Museum Act 1963, which prohibits the removal of objects from the institution’s collection.
Speaking during PMQs, Starmer accused Sunak of “low level politics”. “In an attempt to hide from his failures, the Prime Minister has this week found himself arguing about an ancient relic, which only a small minority of the British public care aboutbut that’s enough for the Tory party,” Starmer joked, adding: “It’s ironic that he’s suddenly interested in Greek culture when he’s clearly become the man with the reverse Midas touch.”
Sunak defended his decision to cancel the meeting with Kyriakos Mitsotakis, accusing him of breaching an agreement not to publicly discuss the ownership of the Parthenon Marbles while in the UK, while also accusing Starmer of “supporting an EU country over Britain” in the due to controversy, despite the fact that the Labor leader had said he did not support the return of the items to Greece.
Source: News Beast
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