The UK elections and the Parthenon Sculptures

In November 2023, the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, canceled a meeting with his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis after the latter brought up the Parthenon Sculptures in an interview with a British media outlet. The head of the Labour opposition, Keir Starmer, seized the opportunity to accuse the Tory leader - and make a play on words - of having "lost his marbles." At the same time, the chairman of the British Museum's Board of Trustees, George Osborne, said that negotiations with Greece on the matter of the sculptures would continue whether Sunak met with the Greek prime minister or not.

Starmer went on to indicate that if Labour won the next general election - which will now take place on July 4 instead of in the autumn - he would not prevent an agreement for the marbles' returns. "If a loan deal that is mutually acceptable to the British Museum and the Greek...