What is the politics behind the Elgin marbles controversy?

Even loaning out the Parthenon sculptures would be controversial – and mean potentially returning a whole host of other looted artefacts stuffed in museums and stately homes, as Sean O’Grady explains

The treasures are one of the most famous and controversial displays at the British Museum in London (EPA)

Relations between Britain and Greece are strained once again over the Elgin marbles – or Parthenon marbles, as they are more officially known. Rishi Sunak was so annoyed by his Greek counterpart, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, talking aloud about their return to Athens that he cancelled their meeting planned for Tuesday – a highly unusual snub. The prime minister resented the issue gaining a higher profile, with the risk he would be left looking weak in the face of a foreign threat (absurd as that might sound).

Ownership has been a touchy subject for some decades; they are an ironic totem of British sovereignty given that relatively few Britons know what or where they are. In some circles, mention of them can provoke a paroxysm of post-imperial pride and tenacity. Like many other such national “possessions”, they have become political symbols and thus virtually immune from rational debate. Indeed, such is the current taste for “culture wars” that they are more bitterly contested than ever.

Are we going to give the Parthenon marbles back?