A group of 34 prominent British conservatives – including former Prime Minister Liz Truss, historian Dr. David Starkey, and Sir John Redwood -have signed a letter opposing the potential return of the Parthenon Sculptures to Greece.
The letter, sent to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and key cultural authorities, claims that the British Museum is engaged in a “secret and intensifying campaign” to repatriate the ancient artworks, also known as the Elgin Marbles, and warns against any effort to remove them from the museum’s collection.
The letter, first revealed by Sky News, was addressed to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the Minister of Culture, and the trustees of the British Museum. It urges an immediate halt to any negotiations regarding the return of the sculptures, warning that legal action may follow if discussions continue without full transparency.
The signatories claim that any such discussions are being conducted behind closed doors, accusing the museum of participating in a “covert negotiation” to remove the sculptures from British ownership. They argue that this undermines public trust and suggest that some museum trustees may need to “reconsider their positions.”
They write: “We reserve the right to seek legal advice on how best to protect the interests of the British public, including pursuing injunctions to stop any present or future negotiations until the rightful stakeholders—the British public—are fully informed.”
The campaign is being led by the right-leaning pressure group Great British PAC, headed by Conservative activist Claire Bullivant and Ben Habib, a former deputy chairman of the Reform Party.
Under the British Museum Act of 1963, the museum is legally barred from permanently disposing of key pieces in its collection, including the Parthenon Sculptures. A government spokesperson confirmed there are no plans to change this law, which prohibits permanent or indefinite loans.
In comments to Greek newspaper to vima, a representative of the British Ministry of Culture stated: “We have no intention of changing the law to allow for the permanent transfer of the Parthenon Sculptures.”
They added that all decisions regarding care, management, or potential loans of the museum’s collection rest solely with its trustees—a position consistently upheld by successive UK governments.
The far right loonies led by nutcase Liz Truss, who nearly destroyed the UK pension system with her ignorance and stupidity… These people are concerned that an illegally acquired collection of ancient Greek artefacts might be returned to Greece?!
We don’t have enough lunatic asylums to accommodate all the people who should be inside them.
This is nothing to do with protecting the “British Public”. The sort of people running this campaign and supporting it are terrified that returning the Parthenon Sculptures would set a precedent and prompt other countries to request the return of artefacts that were pillaged from them. I bet if you polled the British People a majority would vote to return them.
It has nothing to do with far right or far left, or Liz Truss….it is just plain common sense, that the only rightful place for the Parthenon Sculptures….is GREECE!
You can trust this crew of losers to always back the immoral option. I agree that most Brits would probably back the return of the marbles to Greece.
This is typical of the out-of-touch reactionary right wing. The subject of legal ownership has been a controversial topic for years.
However, it was not the Greeks who permitted Lord Elgin to ‘acquire’ the sculptures but a local Turkish official during the Ottoman Empire’s occupation of Greece. A comparable case is the continuing repatriation of stolen works of art during the second world war by Hitler’s forces.
They were not legally or morally acquired and should be returned, thereby bringing some degree of international respect for
Britain.