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Sky News
04-08-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
'Covert' and 'accelerating campaign' to return Elgin Marbles to Greece, say campaigners
Former prime minister Liz Truss, historian Dr David Starkey and Sir John Redwood are among 34 signatories to a letter alleging the British Museum is part of a "covert" and "accelerating campaign" to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece. The letter, seen exclusively by Sky News, which was sent to Sir Keir Starmer, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and trustees of British Museum, says "reform will be necessary". It says that some British Museum "trustees may need to consider their position" and calls for an end to any negotiations to return the Elgin Marbles, also known as the Parthenon Sculptures, or risk legal challenges. In the letter, campaigners call out what they see as "covert negotiation", citing an "accelerating campaign to remove the Elgin Marbles from the British Museum". They warn that they "reserve the right to seek legal advice on how best to protect the interests of the British public" including "pursuing an injunction to halt any ongoing or future negotiations until the beneficiaries [the British public] have been fully informed". The letter has been organised by the right-wing campaign group Great British PAC, led by Conservative activist Claire Bullivant and former Reform deputy co-leader Ben Habib. The British Museum Act 1963 prevents treasures like the Marbles from being legally given away by the museum. A government spokesperson said there are "no plans to change the law that would permit a permanent move of the Parthenon Sculptures". The spokesperson added that decisions relating to the care and management of the museum's collections, including loaning objects, "are a matter for the trustees of the British Museum". It is understood the government has not been asked to consider a request related to the loan of the Elgin Marbles. Speaking at a Westminster Hall debate on the return of the artefacts in May, culture minister Chris Bryant said: "We have no intention to change the law." He added: "Under existing law, it would be impossible for there to be a permanent or indefinite loan." Back in December, British Museum chair and former chancellor George Osborne told the Political Currency podcast that a deal to return the Parthenon Sculptures to Greece is "still some distance" away. Mr Osborne has been contacted for a comment. A spokesperson for the British Museum said: "Discussions with Greece about a Parthenon Partnership are on-going and constructive. "We believe that this kind of long-term partnership would strike the right balance between sharing our greatest objects with audiences around the world, and maintaining the integrity of the incredible collection we hold at the museum." The Parthenon Project, which includes supporters such as Stephen Fry and Lord Ed Vaizey on its board, campaigns for the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures and was cited in the letter as "lavishly funded by a foreign industrialist". The lobbying group's website lists Greek plastics magnate John Lefas and family as the leaders and key financiers of the organisation, and that it aims for a "win-win solution" for both Greece and Britain. British diplomat Lord Elgin removed the sculptures in the early 19th century while he was the ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, which then ruled Greece. Lord Elgin claimed he had been given permission by the Ottoman Empire for the transfer of the sculptures and sold them to the UK government in 1816, before the marbles were passed into the trusteeship of the British Museum. Turkey disputes that permission was ever given, and representative Dr Zeynep Boz supported Greece publicly in 2024 at the United Nations Return & Restitution Intergovernmental Committee (ICPRCP). UK agrees deal on Bayeux Tapestry The latest outburst over the Elgin Marbles comes as the Bayeux Tapestry loan deal with France has been agreed. The historic depiction of the Battle of Hastings and the killing of King Harold will be back in Britain for the first time in 900 years from September 2026 to July 2027. This diplomatic triumph could signal that the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures is possible and that there could be reasons for the signatories to seek legal action yet.
Times
23-07-2025
- Politics
- Times
Now I've left Britain, here's what you look like
An American based in the UK for 36 years, in 2023 I absconded to Portugal. So how dismal does Britain look from a distance? Like the Danes abandoning their country because of rising sea levels in Families Like Ours, should Brits evacuate, too? Granted, I make frequent trips back. What I most miss in a small town just west of Lisbon is my friends and colleagues, whose dry, casually cynical sensibility dovetails with mine. Given the average periodicity of meet-ups in London, I'd have seen these people less often had I stayed put. Because I left Britain. I didn't leave the British. I still read The Times and The Telegraph. I watch Spectator TV, Spiked Online podcasts, and YouTube appearances by Matt Goodwin, David Starkey and Brendan O'Neill. Am I suffering separation anxiety? I'm still emotionally and politically enmeshed in British affairs. But my personal fate is no longer joined at the hip with the increasingly distressing fate of the UK. Thus six officers can no longer pound on my door to do me for a 'non-crime hate incident' (a charge that Americans refuse to believe is even real). But the British state will now imprison locals over online bursts of purely rhetorical frustration, while giving rapists a rap on the wrist. The country that gave conceptual rise to free speech no longer believes in it. Instead, the primary purpose of the British constabulary is to suppress the unruly passions of a native population it holds in contempt. At least my lights will still go on when Ed Miliband's net-zero fanaticism crashes against the brick wall of reality. By closing power plants that aren't replaced, Britain has neglected long-term energy planning for decades. Its exorbitant electricity relies dangerously on imports and intermittent renewables. Yet it may take blackouts — entailing what we euphemise as 'unrest' — for the government to get a grip, and new power plants don't spring up overnight. In the birthplace of Brunel and the Industrial Revolution, nothing works. Trains are late or cancelled. Heathrow goes dark. It takes months and endless hair-tear to install a single residency's fibre-optic cable. Construction is eternal; roadworks languish untended indefinitely, backing up traffic. Britain can no longer build anything. HS2 is an ever-costlier white elephant. Tradesmen are little kings, but finding one to do repairs to a reputable standard is like winning the lottery. Small boats and sky-high legal immigration will continue to wreak demographic havoc. This change is permanent. Millions of immigrants from clashing traditions will bring only more of their friends and families. None of these people are going home. A succession of governments has systematically watered down British culture, until it's a pale solution with no distinctive flavour, like over-extended squash. Supposedly, a leading 'British value' is 'fair play'. So let's talk about fairness. Amid an ever-escalating housing shortage, itself powered by mass immigration, your government uses your money to provide a free water-taxi service to your shores and to put up low-skilled, overwhelmingly male foreign citizens in four-star hotels. No one's putting locals in free hotels. Ten million working-age inhabitants are on benefits. Almost half of universal credit recipients need neither work nor look for work, and over a million are foreign-born. Soaring disability payments allow anyone to retire to a life of Netflix if they're worried or sad. At once, the tax burden is the highest of the postwar era and set to rise further. Small businesses are hammered. The British tax code severely punishes success at shockingly low levels of income. This is fair? If you haven't downed tools and thrown yourself on the mercy of the state, you're a sucker. Modern Britain rewards sloth, irresponsibility and self-pity. Why is the mild-mannered academic David Betz now such a popular guest on British podcasts? Because Betz, a professor of war in the modern world, assesses the forbiddingly high likelihood of a British civil war. Not that Portugal is Valhalla. It's notoriously bureaucratic. Residency application was costly, complex and exhausting. That residency has already passed its renewal date, but the immigration system has a backlog of over 400,000 cases and now we're in residency limbo. I'm crap at languages, and I miss British banter. We get a tax break, but that status is temporary and we Americans must declare every sou of worldwide income to the feds wherever we live. Portugal also has problems with imported energy, housing and immigration. Supermarkets don't even carry cumin, much less English mustard or treacle. Our local dry cleaner shrank my jumpers into doll's clothing. Yet we'd never have afforded our spacious house in Britain. The Portuguese are as warm as their weather. I'm unlikely to forge the same deep connection to Portugal that I did to the UK, but, hey — it's a two-and-a-half-hour flight to Heathrow, so I can keep a foot in both worlds. Ironically, the red wine is both rich and cheap; the fish is fresh; the coastal walks are enchanting. The most striking contrast from afar is the emotional colour of the popular mood. The Portuguese emanate a soft, calming peach, like the sunset over the sea from our balcony. They take their time. They seem contented with the modest ambitions of their small post-empire state. Yet even when your weather is fair, from Lisbon, Britons appear a wan umber. You seem gloomy and aggrieved — and for good reason. Sure, I could have stayed in London. When it's close up, one often doesn't notice steady but gradual decay. A debt-fuelled fiscal collapse and an energy crisis remain agreeably abstract, mere talking points, until they happen. I take no pleasure in the observation that the UK is falling apart. But in the comments under articles like this one, native Britons are vowing to leave in droves. Others express relief that they've already left or sorrow over ambitious children lost to Dubai. And should Sir Keir Starmer capitulate to a wealth tax, the exodus will get worse Lionel Shriver's most recent novels are Should We Stay Or Should We Go and Mania.
The Guardian
11-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Campaigners call for end to ‘covert' deal to return Parthenon marbles to Greece
The former prime minister Liz Truss, historian David Starkey and former Welsh secretary John Redwood are reportedly among 34 signatories to a letter alleging the British Museum is part of a 'covert' campaign to return the Parthenon marbles to Greece. The letter, seen by Sky News, has been reportedly sent to Keir Starmer, the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, and trustees of British Museum. The letter has been organised by the hard-right campaign group Great British Pac, led by the Conservative activist Claire Bullivant and former Reform deputy co-leader Ben Habib. It is said to call for an end to any negotiations to return the Parthenon sculptures, also known as the Elgin marbles, or risk legal challenges. In the letter, campaigners call out what they allege as a 'covert negotiation', citing an 'accelerating campaign to remove the Elgin marbles from the British Museum'. The Parthenon, or Elgin, marbles are the ancient Greek sculptures that once decorated the temple on the Acropolis in Athens. They were removed between 1801 and 1815 by Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman empire, who claimed he had permission to take them, although no supporting document has been found. The sculptures were acquired by the British Museum in 1816, but their rightful ownership has been disputed since the 1980s. Last year, two months after Labour's electoral victory, Giorgos Gerapetritis, the Greek foreign minister, told the Guardian he believed a deal was 'relatively close'. Negotiations between Athens and the British Museum began in 2021. It has been previously reported that any possible agreement might be underpinned by a cultural partnership between the two countries, with the sculptures returned to Athens and reunited with other pieces currently on display at the Parthenon galleries of the Acropolis Museum in exchange for renowned art works that could take centre stage at rolling exhibitions in London. Responding to the reports about the Great British Pac letter, Dan Hicks, professor of contemporary archaeology at the University of Oxford, said: 'The accusation of a covert and accelerating campaign appears to be aimed at publicly appointed trustees, whereas in reality it is the structure, funding and identity of Great British Pac that is opaque and concerning. 'Perhaps the signatories could explain who and what exactly this group is and who is paying for it. This letter is a desperate culture-warrior exercise in scaremongering and intimidation developed by undefined political actors.' He added: 'International loans have been a normal part of the operation of museum exhibitions for more than a century. To give just one example, the British Museum itself will be the recipient of a high-profile loan from France next year when the Bayeux tapestry will be put on display. Many will question why the UK's national museums remain unable to make permanent returns of stolen cultural objects on a case-by-case basis, as other British museums are able to do. 'And some, myself included, have been asking why national museum directors and trustees are not calling for a change in those antiquated 1960s laws. But to call into question the legality of making loans from Britain to an EU nation would be very odd indeed.' A spokesperson for the British Museum said: 'Discussions with Greece about a Parthenon partnership are ongoing and constructive. 'We believe that this kind of long-term partnership would strike the right balance between sharing our greatest objects with audiences around the world, and maintaining the integrity of the incredible collection we hold at the museum.'
Sky News
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
British Museum part of 'covert' campaign to return Elgin Marbles to Greece, say campaigners
Former prime minister Liz Truss, historian Dr David Starkey and Sir John Redwood are among 34 signatories to a letter alleging the British Museum is part of a "covert" and "accelerating campaign" to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece. The letter, seen exclusively by Sky News, which was sent to Sir Keir Starmer, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and trustees of British Museum, says "reform will be necessary". It says that some British Museum "trustees may need to consider their position" and calls for an end to any negotiations to return the Elgin Marbles, also known as the Parthenon Sculptures, or risk legal challenges. In the letter, campaigners call out what they see as "covert negotiation", citing an "accelerating campaign to remove the Elgin Marbles from the British Museum". They warn that they "reserve the right to seek legal advice on how best to protect the interests of the British public" including "pursuing an injunction to halt any ongoing or future negotiations until the beneficiaries [the British public] have been fully informed". The letter has been organised by the right-wing campaign group Great British PAC, led by Conservative activist Claire Bullivant and former Reform deputy co-leader Ben Habib. The British Museum Act 1963 prevents treasures like the Marbles from being legally given away by the museum. A government spokesperson said there are "no plans to change the law that would permit a permanent move of the Parthenon Sculptures". The spokesperson added that decisions relating to the care and management of the museum's collections, including loaning objects, "are a matter for the trustees of the British Museum". It is understood the government has not been asked to consider a request related to the loan of the Elgin Marbles. Speaking at a Westminster Hall debate on the return of the artefacts in May, culture minister Chris Bryant said: "We have no intention to change the law." He added: "Under existing law, it would be impossible for there to be a permanent or indefinite loan." Back in December, British Museum chair and former chancellor George Osborne told the Political Currency podcast that a deal to return the Parthenon Sculptures to Greece is "still some distance" away. Mr Osborne has been contacted for a comment. A spokesperson for the British Museum said: "Discussions with Greece about a Parthenon Partnership are on-going and constructive. "We believe that this kind of long-term partnership would strike the right balance between sharing our greatest objects with audiences around the world, and maintaining the integrity of the incredible collection we hold at the museum." The Parthenon Project, which includes supporters such as Stephen Fry and Lord Ed Vaizey on its board, campaigns for the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures and was cited in the letter as "lavishly funded by a foreign industrialist". The lobbying group's website lists Greek plastics magnate John Lefas and family as the leaders and key financiers of the organisation, and that it aims for a "win-win solution" for both Greece and Britain. British diplomat Lord Elgin removed the sculptures in the early 19th century while he was the ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, which then ruled Greece. Lord Elgin claimed he had been given permission by the Ottoman Empire for the transfer of the sculptures and sold them to the UK government in 1816, before the marbles were passed into the trusteeship of the British Museum. Turkey disputes that permission was ever given, and representative Dr Zeynep Boz supported Greece publicly in 2024 at the United Nations Return & Restitution Intergovernmental Committee (ICPRCP). UK agrees deal on Bayeux Tapestry The latest outburst over the Elgin Marbles comes as the Bayeux Tapestry loan deal with France has been agreed. The historic depiction of the Battle of Hastings and the killing of King Harold will be back in Britain for the first time in 900 years from September 2026 to July 2027. This diplomatic triumph could signal that the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures is possible and that there could be reasons for the signatories to seek legal action yet.
