The former British prime minister Liz Truss and a hard-right lobby group have been accused of stoking culture wars after putting their names to a letter claiming they would take legal action over alleged “covert” plans to return the Parthenon marbles to Greece.
The letter, addressed to Keir Starmer and the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, as well as trustees of the British Museum, was organised by a rightwing campaign group called Great British Pac, led by the Conservative activist Claire Bullivant and the former Reform deputy co-leader Ben Habib, who was ousted from the party by Nigel Farage.
Great British Pac takes its inspiration from political action committees in the US, which use donations to fund campaigns for or against candidates and policies.
Last month the anti-extremism campaign group Hope not Hate alleged that 13 members of the Great British Pac team had promoted far-right views and conspiracy theories online, including one who shared pro-Hitler and antisemitic content. Bullivant and Habib were not among the 13 identified by the group.
In a statement to the Guardian, Bullivant called the accusations a “smear campaign”.
In its letter, Great British Pac calls for an end to any negotiations to return the Parthenon sculptures, also known as the Elgin marbles, or risk legal challenges.
The campaigners refer to what they allege is a “covert negotiation”, citing an “accelerating campaign to remove the Elgin marbles from the British Museum”.
Experts in archaeology and antiquities criticised the intervention. Dan Hicks, a professor of contemporary archaeology at the University of Oxford, said: “The accusation of a covert and accelerating campaign appears to be aimed at publicly appointed trustees, whereas in reality it is the structure, funding and identity of Great British Pac that is opaque and concerning.
“Perhaps the signatories could explain who and what exactly this group is and who is paying for it. This letter is a desperate culture-warrior exercise in scaremongering and intimidation developed by undefined political actors.”
He added: “International loans have been a normal part of the operation of museum exhibitions for more than a century. To give just one example, the British Museum itself will be the recipient of a high-profile loan from France next year when the Bayeux tapestry will be put on display. Many will question why the UK’s national museums remain unable to make permanent returns of stolen cultural objects on a case-by-case basis, as other British museums are able to do.
“And some, myself included, have been asking why national museum directors and trustees are not calling for a change in those antiquated 1960s laws. But to call into question the legality of making loans from Britain to an EU nation would be very odd indeed.”
Christos Tsirogiannis, who heads illicit antiquities trafficking research for the Unesco chair on threats to cultural heritage at the Ionian University in Corfu, said: “While it is completely unacceptable that the public in both countries remains in the dark about the content of the negotiations, it was reported years ago in the British press that the majority of the British public supports the unconditional and permanent return of all the Parthenon sculptures to Greece.
Horse head from the collection of Parthenon marbles that once decorated the temple on the Acropolis in Athens. Photograph: mauritius images GmbH/Alamy
“In reality, this letter harms the interests of the British people and state, and disrupts the relationship between two traditional allies, bound by friendship and blood ties in two world wars. Both governments – not just the trustees of the British Museum – bear equal responsibility for reaching a historically just solution.”
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The Parthenon marbles are the ancient sculptures that once decorated the temple on the Acropolis in Athens. They were removed between 1801 and 1815 by Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman empire, who claimed he had permission to take them, although no supporting document has been found. The sculptures were acquired by the British Museum in 1816, but their rightful ownership has been disputed since the 1980s.
Last year, two months after Labour’s election victory, Giorgos Gerapetritis, the Greek foreign minister, told the Guardian he believed a deal was “relatively close”. Negotiations between Athens and the British Museum began in 2021.
It has been reported that any possible agreement might be underpinned by a cultural partnership between the countries, with the sculptures being returned and reunited with other pieces on display at the Parthenon galleries of the Acropolis Museum in exchange for renowned artworks that could take centre stage at rolling exhibitions in London.
Bullivant, also the editor of the Conservative & Reformer Post website, said: “Hope not Hate’s smear campaign is nothing new. It’s part of their tired old playbook: when they can’t win the argument, they try to delegitimise those who disagree.
“We’re not a political party, we don’t take orders from anyone, and we firmly believe in free speech.”
She added: “As for funding – let’s clear that up too. Hope not Hate seem obsessed with it. We are 100% grassroots. No shadowy donors. No foreign money. It doesn’t take a bank transfer to write a letter about the Elgin Marbles. You want to know who paid for the stamp? I did.”
A spokesperson for the British Museum said: “Discussions with Greece about a Parthenon partnership are ongoing and constructive.
“We believe that this kind of long-term partnership would strike the right balance between sharing our greatest objects with audiences around the world, and maintaining the integrity of the incredible collection we hold at the museum.”