Blair considered loan of Parthenon marbles to help London Olympics bid

Sections of the Parthenon marbles in the British Museum. The sculptures were taken from Athens by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century. Photograph: Matthew Fearn/PA

Tony Blair considered a “long-term loan” of the Parthenon marbles to Greece in the hope of support for a London 2012 Olympic Games bid, newly released documents reveal.

Twenty years before Rishi Sunak cancelled a meeting with the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, over the ownership question of the sculptures, Greece was lobbying Blair, the then prime minister, for a long-term loan, bypassing the issue of ownership.