Petulance is not a good look in a prime minister. Maybe Rishi Sunak’s refusal to meet his Greek counterpart this week was more calculated than capricious – a tactical flash of temper to convey firmness regarding the fate of the Parthenon marbles. Even so, it came across as childish. Mr Sunak might have been genuinely affronted by Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s comments likening the British Museum’s possession of the ancient Greek sculptures to cutting the Mona Lisa in half. That intervention might have reneged on a commitment not to campaign for restitution of the marbles while visiting Britain. More likely, it crossed a line that Downing Street projected on to conversations that are interpreted differently by the Greek side.
Either way, calling off a meeting was a wild overreaction. It is doubtful that a domestic audience, whatever views people have of the marbles question, will have been impressed. Overseas, it looks like a return of the prickliness and insecurity that Britain’s neighbours associate with Brexit at its most belligerent.
