By the end of this year, the two sides in the Parthenon Marbles restitution debate may be very different from what they were a year ago – although apart from that, nothing may have changed.

Earlier this year, Greece got a new government in the form of a coalition led by Syriza. Despite limited success so far in achieving their manifesto goals of removing Greece from the Austerity programme, they are still doing well in the polls. They have yet to speak in any detail about how they plan to deal with the Parthenon Marbles.

In London, Neil MacGregor, the Director of the British Museum announced a few weeks ago that he would be standing down later this year. Various potential candidates have been mentioned in the press and I will try to look at the credentials of some of them in a future post.

Finally, in an unexpected outcome to what the opinion polls told us, Britain has a new government. The Conservative party now has an outright majority, so is no governing alone, without the support of the Liberal Democrats. I will make a more details post on the breakdown of who is in and out of the new British Parliament, but the situation at present does not look particularly promising for restitution cases. You can refer back to my previous post, to get a rough idea of where different parties stand on the issue.

David Cameron continues as Prime Minister and has in the past made his anti-restitution credentials clear, both in relation to the Parthenon Marbles, and in his responses to questions about other cases such as the Koh-i-Noor diamond.

Finally, Britain has a new Minister of Culture, John Whittingdale. His name may well already be familiar to many people, as he has chaired the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee since 2005.

During this time chairing the Select Committee, he has made clear his anti-restitution stance on various occasions in the form of responses to statements and questions about the Parthenon Marbles.

His voting pattern on other issues indicates that he does not follow a particularly progressive line, even when compared to his own party, so we should not expect him to introduce any grand initiatives favouring restitution any time soon.

Once again, this highlights the need for Greece to increase the pressure on the British Government. While this government is in power (for five years, unless something goes badly awry), they are unlikely to make any concessions towards returning the Marbles, unless their hand is forced. In the previous Parliament, DCMS rejected the request for UNESCO mediation and unfortunately, this sort of approach is unlikely to change.

Ed Vaizey continues in in the cabinet as the Minister specifically responsible for culture serving under John Whittingdale.

John Whittingdale, secretary of state for culture, media and sport.

From:
Art Newspaper

John Whittingdale appointed Culture Secretary
Patrick Steel
11.05.2015

Former chairman of Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee promoted to cabinet

John Whittingdale, the Conservative MP for Maldon, was today appointed secretary of state for culture, media and sport.

Whittingdale has overall responsibility for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), which includes museums and galleries in England.
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Despite promises when they were in opposition, since 1997, the UK’s Labour government has failed to make any meaningful headway towards resolving the situation of the Elgin Marbles in The British Museum. Previous statements from the Conservative party suggest that they would be even less in favour of any sort of reunification deal than Labour is.

Nick Clegg, unknown to many before he was elected as a UK MP in 2005, was previously an MEP & during this time he was involved in organising an exhibition at the European Parliament.

Since 2005, there have been 6 Early Day Motions relating to the Parthenon Marbles. Based on an analysis of the people who signed at least one of these EDMs, the breakdown of support (strong support – MPs only normally sign EDMs when they feel strongly about something) by party is:

Liberal Democrats – 33%
Labour – 15%
Conservative – 1%

The weak support from the Conservative party is particularly troubling – it is only 2 out of 193 MPs who have expressed any interest in the issue. These are: Richard Ottaway (Croydon South) & James Gray (North Wiltshire). There are other members of their party who I know are supportive of the issue, but clearly they are not interested enough in it to want to publicly express their support.

The SNP & Plaid Cymru are also supportive of return, but their results are less accurate as they have far fewer MPs:

SNP – 29%
Plaid Cymru – 100% (of 3MPs)

Other minor / regional parties that are supportive:

SDLP (Northern Ireland) – 67% (of 3 MPs)
Respect – 100% (of 1 MP)

Based on these results, a Liberal Democrat government in the UK currently seems by far the most positive option for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles. (although the national parties listed above for Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland are also supportive of the issue).

Below is a press release from the Marbles in Exile conference (Note that The Parthenon 2004 campaign is what is now know as Marbles Reunited):

Embargo: 00.01, Wednesday 29th May, 2002
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT SHOWS SUPPORT FOR THE RETURN OF THE PARTHENON MARBLES – RICHARD ALLAN MP

Today, the (Parthenon) Marbles in Exile Conference and Exhibition will take place at the European Parliament. Nick Clegg MEP, chair of the Marbles in Exile Conference, says:

“I am thrilled by the positive response across Europe to this issue. After all, it’s about preserving our common European heritage. It is absurd that the Parthenon monument remains torn apart in this way. Imagine the outrage in Britain if Big Ben’s clock face was taken from Westminster and housed in the Prado museum in Spain.”
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