UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak cancelled a meeting with Kyriakos Mitsotakis because his Greek counterpart failed to keep a promise not to publicly dispute ownership of the Parthenon Marbles, the UK leader's spokesman said on Tuesday.
An angry Mitsotakis cut short his three-day visit and headed back to Greece, according to his office, after the meeting scheduled for Tuesday was pulled.
According to a government source in Athens, "the marbles issue was on the agenda, among other bilateral and international issues, as it had been in the past".
"Downing Street was aware of it," the source added.
But in London, Sunak's spokesman maintained that the Greek government, when requesting the meeting, had "provided reassurances that they would not use the visit as a public platform to relitigate long, long settled matters relating to the ownership of the Parthenon sculptures".
"Given those assurances were not adhered to, the prime minister (Sunak) felt it would not be productive to hold a meeting dominated by that issue, rather than the important challenges facing Greek and British people," he told reporters.
The sculptures were taken from the Parthenon temple at the Acropolis in Greece in the early 19th century by British diplomat Thomas Bruce, the earl of Elgin, and are now on display at the British Museum.
Athens maintains the marbles were stolen, while Britain claims they were obtained legally, and the issue has been a source of contention between the countries for decades.
Athens had been lobbying London for a deal that would return the sculptures under some kind of loan arrangement.
It is believed the UK leader was angry about an interview Mitsotakis gave with the BBC on Sunday, in which he said having some of the marbles in London and others in Athens was like cutting the Mona Lisa in half.
A Greek source denied to the BBC that it had made the assurances claimed by Downing Street.
Mitsotakis said in a statement: "I would like to express my displeasure at the British Prime Minister's cancellation of our meeting just a few hours before it was due to take place."
He reportedly declined a UK offer to meet Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden instead.
Despite the spat, Downing Street insisted that "the UK-Greece relationship is hugely important, from our work together in NATO to tackling shared challenges like illegal migration to joint efforts to resolve the crisis in the Middle East and war in Ukraine".
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