Downing Street has said Sir Keir Starmer will not return the Elgin Marbles to Greece when he meets his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis at Number 10 today.
Tuesday 3 December 2024 07:34, UK
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Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister, has suggested that “two friendly nations” can “probably get over” the debate over the Elgin Marbles.
Downing Street has said calls for the Elgin Marbles – also known as the Parthenon Sculptures – to be returned to Greece is “not on the agenda” as Sir Keir Starmer meets with his Greek counterpart today.
The statues came from friezes on the 2,500-year-old Parthenon temple and have been displayed at the British Museum for more than 200 years.
They were removed by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century, when he was British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.
But the Greeks have repeatedly called for them to be returned to Athens.
Asked for her view on this situation, Ms Phillips said: “I don’t know what we’re doing to do about the Elgin Marbles.
“I think that there’s probably a perfectly sensible solution that can be come to. I’m not going to pre-empt the conversation that the prime minister is going to have with the Greek prime minister.
“That would then become the story of me telling Keir Starmer what to say to the Greek prime minister.”
Pressed, she said “it seems like two friendly nations could probably get over this particular issue.”
By Serena Barker-Singh, political correspondent and Isobel Losseff, politics producer
Pyrotechnics, fireworks, balloons – Reform UK’s conference was unlike any other. Back in September, Nigel Farage’s party used its annual gathering to underscore its message that it offers something different.
Throughout Birmingham’s NEC, screens flashed up images of the party’s leader. When it was time for Mr Farage’s speech, delegates flocked to hear him speak. As he ascended the stage, a lengthy video montage of his life, set to music, played behind him.
Among the packed crowd of almost 4,000 members, there was the usual crop of grey-haired supporters but sprinkled among them were a surprising number of young, white men.
Since Reform’s leader made a surprise return to frontline politics, he’s leant even harder into anti-establishment rhetoric. The political elite don’t want Nigel Farage to succeed, is his mantra.
The problem Reform UK faces is that it now has five MPs, giving it a presence on the green benches alongside the very establishment it rails against. It’s next job is to try to professionalise the party beyond the cult of Nigel and widen its supporter base.
By Faye Brown, political reporter
Police will be able to reveal the identity of online stalkers under new “right to know” powers, the government has announced.
The change has been inspired by the experience of ex-Coronation Street actress and broadcaster Nicola Thorp, who was abused by a man online who set up almost 30 social media accounts to send her violent misogynistic messages.
Police said they could not reveal the identity of the offender even after he was arrested – despite the perpetrator once saying he had got so close to Ms Thorp on a train he “could smell” her.
The man, who called himself The Grim Reaper in some of his messages, is currently serving a 30-month prison sentence with a lifetime restraining order handed down in court – the first time she learned his true identity.
She didn’t know what he looked like even after she was granted a stalking protection order ahead of his trial, The Times previously reported, so she wouldn’t have been able to raise the alarm if he broke it.
The government said it will issue new ‘right to know’ statutory guidance to empower the police to release the identity of an online stalker at the earliest opportunity, setting out the process for disclosure more clearly to officers.
The measure was welcomed by Ms Thorp, who has been working with the government to grant stalking victims more protection.
She said: “For too long, stalking victims have been at the mercy not only of their stalker but a justice system that failed to protect them.
“These new measures will empower victims to regain some much-needed control of their lives and police to bring abusers to justice.”
Analysis by Dominic Waghorn, international affairs editor
Sir Keir Starmer has for the first time said it was British policy to “put Ukraine in the strongest possible position for negotiations”.
During a speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet in London on Monday, the prime minister said he wants Ukraine to be in a position of strength “so they can secure a just and lasting peace on their terms that guarantees their security, independence – and right to choose their own future”.
But make no mistake. This is a significant shift.
Only last month, both Sir Keir and French President Emmanuel Macron were promising to “support Ukraine unwaveringly and for as long as necessary to thwart Russia’s war of aggression”.
Returning the Elgin Marbles to Greece is not on the agenda for Sir Keir Starmer as he meets his Greek counterpart today, Downing Street has said.
The prime minister will welcome Kyriakos Mitsotakis to No 10 this morning, the Greek leader’s first official visit to the UK since a quarrel with the previous government over the ancient marbles, also known as the Parthenon Sculptures.
Greece has long maintained that the Elgin Marbles were illegally removed from their place high atop Athens’ acropolis during a period of foreign occupation.
The government and the British Museum reject this characterisation.
Ahead of the meeting between the two premiers, Sir Keir’s official spokesman suggested conversation would not touch upon the marbles.
“It’s not going to be on the prime minister’s agenda. His focus will be on support for Ukraine, the urgent need for a ceasefire in Gaza,” the spokesman said.
What are the Elgin Marbles?
The statues came from friezes on the 2,500-year-old Parthenon temple and have been displayed at the British Museum for more than 200 years.
They were removed by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century, when he was British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.
Some of the remaining temple statues are on display in the purpose-built Acropolis Museum in Athens, and Greece has long called for the collections to be reunited.
A diplomatic row between Greece and the UK was sparked under the previous government when then prime minister Rishi Sunak cancelled a meeting with Mr Mitsotakis, who had made a push for the sculptures’ return.
Mr Sunak denied having thrown a “hissy fit” over the matter and accused his counterpart of grandstanding.
Mr Mitsotakis had compared splitting the Elgin Marbles from those still in Athens to cutting the Mona Lisa in half.
Good morning!
Welcome back to the Politics Hub on Tuesday, 3 December.
Sir Keir Starmer will today meet with his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Downing Street, where the prime minister will underline the importance of tackling illegal migration.
And, despite widening calls for them to be returned, Downing Street has said the matter of returning the Elgin Marbles to Greece is not on the agenda.
Also today, Sir Keir will host his weekly cabinet meeting. We’ll likely hear details of what they discuss a bit later on.
And new government guidance will empower police to release the identity of an online stalker at the earliest opportunity – after the case of ex-Corrie actress Nicola Thorp.
The actress was abused by a man online who set up almost 30 social media accounts to send her violent misogynistic messages.
In the Commons, the second reading of the National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill is expected to take place.
This would enable the employer NICs increases introduced in the budget, up from 13.8% to 15%, taking effect from April 2025.
We’ll be discussing all this and more with:
Stick with us for all the latest throughout today.
Thank you for joining us in the Politics Hub for live coverage of today’s events in Westminster.
Scroll down for full live coverage of the day in politics – or see the main news and analysis in the key points above.
We’ll be back from 6am with the very latest political news.
The globe-trotting prime minister has hit back at his critics – and cosied up to Donald Trump like never before.
After claims by opponents that he spends too much time abroad, Sir Keir Starmer has insisted his travels are in the UK’s interests.
A reminder: in just under five months as PM, Sir Keir has made 10 overseas trips and spent 26 days out of the country.
To be fair, those trips have included five international summits: the UN, G7, G20, COP29 on climate change and the Commonwealth heads of government.
So it was no surprise that in the luxurious medieval splendour of the Guildhall in the City of London, Sir Keir made the case for clocking up the air miles.
In white tie and tails – unlike Labour predecessor Gordon Brown, who stubbornly refused to change out of his lounge suit – he was addressing the annual Lord Mayor’s Banquet, which dates back to 1502.
As ever on these glittering occasions, when traditionally the PM addresses ambassadors, business chiefs and City grandees about international affairs, the PM’s speech was a world tour.
And, significantly, he began with a charm offensive aimed at Donald Trump – no mention of Joe Biden, incidentally – and rejected claims that the UK should choose between the US and Europe.
Clement Attlee didn’t choose and nor did Sir Winston Churchill, he said. Was he claiming to be the heir to Labour’s hero Attlee? No surprise about that. But Churchill, the Tories’ all-time hero? Really?
In the final section of his speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet, Sir Keir Starmer says the government has “already made progress on our reset, arranging regular UK-EU Summits at leader level and a shared ambition to work more closely where necessary, including through a new security pact covering foreign affairs and defence”.
“This is about looking forward, not back,” he says, declaring there will be “no return to freedom of movement, no return to the customs union and no return to the single market”.
“Instead, we will find practical, agile ways to cooperate which serve the national interest.”
The PM says the UK will work “closely with everyone from Italy to Iraq on migration because we know this collaboration works in bringing the criminal gangs to justice”.
On the Middle East, he says: “We’ll work to maintain the peace in Lebanon, end the conflict in Gaza, bring the hostages home and increase the flow of aid to those suffering so terribly in Gaza and in other conflict zones, like Sudan.”
He reiterated his call for the hostages being held by Hamas to be released as well.
On China, Sir Keir says: “It is remarkable that until I met President Xi last month there had been no face-to-face meeting between British and Chinese leaders for six years.”
Concluding his speech, Sir Keir argues the UK “can’t simply look the other way”, and must “engage”.
“I am determined to do that and to keep talking. Because I believe we are stronger when we do.”
By Dominic Waghorn, international affairs editor
Sir Keir Starmer has now for the first time tonight said it was British policy to “put Ukraine in the strongest possible position for negotiations”.
He wants Ukraine to be in a position of strength “so they can secure a just and lasting peace on their terms that guarantees their security, independence – and right to choose their own future” (see previous post).
But make no mistake. This is a significant shift.
Only last month, both Sir Keir and French leader Emmanuel Macron were promising to “support Ukraine unwaveringly and for as long as necessary to thwart Russia’s war of aggression”.
In the summer, his predecessor Rishi Sunak stated British policy on Ukraine was based on the principle that “aggression cannot and will not prevail” while also talking of a just and lasting peace, based on international law and the UN Charter.
If negotiations happen and settle on some kind of compromise, as they always do, Russian aggression will have prevailed to some extent at least.
‘For some, Starmer’s words will be overhasty’
If Russia, as many seem to expect, walks away with de facto control of at least part of the chunk of Ukraine they have taken by force and win a commitment Ukraine will not join NATO for the foreseeable future, Vladimir Putin will have been vindicated at least in part.
His decision to wield naked, unprovoked, brutal aggression against a neighbour will have achieved some of its ends.
That western leaders are now talking about negotiations between Ukraine and Russia will, say critics, be a sign of their abject failure to “thwart Russian aggression”.
The West failed to deter Russia from invading Ukraine, hoping that the threat of “swift, punitive” financial sanctions would suffice. Then it failed to act with sufficient urgency and unity to help Ukraine repel that invasion.
Russia may be reaching the limit of its ability to support a war that it is undoubtedly winning, drafting in North Korean and Yemeni troops to avoid an unpopular second mobilisation of Russians. And with inflation soaring, the Russian economy is creaking.
But US president-elect Donald Trump seems determined to press on and expedite negotiations and other leaders, including Ukraine’s own and now Britain’s seem ready to accept their inevitability.
For some, Starmer’s words will be overhasty. They would prefer Europe hold the line – even if the US is about to walk away from giving Ukraine the military support it’s relied on for two years.
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