Plot to ship Elgin Marbles again to Greece in Olympics attraction offensive emerges
Former PM Tony Blair was in favour of returning the Elgin Marbles to Greece in a attraction offensive to spice up London’s bid to host the Olympic Games, it has emerged.
Papers launched by the National Archives present his advisers believed the two,500 yr outdated statues could possibly be a “powerful bargaining chip” to safe the 2012 contest. And the Labour chief advised a peer could possibly be trusted to barter a sharing settlement.
The marbles had been final month on the coronary heart of an enormous diplomatic row between the UK and Greece when Rishi Sunak cancelled a gathering together with his counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis. It has now emerged that 20 years in the past Mr Blair supported a attainable deal that will have seen them shared by the UK and Greece.
The plan, put ahead by former Foreign Secretary Lord Owen, was stated to have “real legs”, recordsdata present. But British Museum chiefs feared that the Greek authorities would not stick with their aspect of the deal and permit the sculptures again into London, it’s claimed.
Lord Owen wrote in a memo to the Cabinet Office: “It would not be difficult to get the Greeks to put their support behind a London bid for 2012 as a quid pro quo (for agreement on the Marbles), given that Paris is competing and the Greeks might normally go for the French.” He warned that if nothing was finished, the Greeks would search to “manipulate” the problem when their video games passed off in 2004.
In a handwritten notice, Mr Blair advised Lord Owen could possibly be trusted with negotiations with Greece. He wrote: “He has clout and could probably help with the BM while distancing it a little from government.”
Athens has lengthy demanded the return of the historic works which had been eliminated by Lord Elgin within the early nineteenth century when he was the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. A memo from No10 tradition media and sport advisor Sarah Hunter stated there have been good causes for the UK to “change tack” on the controversy over the marbles. She wrote: “The Marbles could be a powerful bargaining chip in IOC (International Olympic Committee) vote building for a 2012 Olympic bid.
“The publicity hooked up to this transfer may safe the Greek nomination and assist garner a variety of different IOC votes.”
But she warned the British Museum would be suspicious of a shared ownership deal, stating: “There is way suspicion throughout the (British Museum) concerning the Greeks’ motives: the trustees and the director stay firmly of the view that, as soon as the Marbles are again on Greek soil, the federal government pays any value to retain them there, leaving the British Museum with a gap on the centre of their assortment.”
Newly-released files contain no evidence that Lord Owen was contacted by No10, and the proposal came to nothing. The documents were made public weeks after Mr Sunak sparked anger when he cancelled a meeting with Mr Mitsotakis in London. The decision came after the Greek PM mentioned the sculptures in a TV interview.
The PM’s spokesman was forced to deny Mr Sunak was “thin skinned” – and said it would “not be productive” to hold a meeting with the Greek leader after a promise not to use the visit to focus on the Marbles was “not adhered to”.
