A “minor” politician whose only achievement (apart from his lavish marriage and being elected mayor of London) was to succeed Prime Minister Liz Truss, whose tenure lasted as long as lettuce in the fridge, and to lose in the polls.
The British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak chose to cause a crisis in his government’s relations with traditional ally and friend Greece because he could not stand the debate and had no answers to give to the Greek position on reunifying the Parthenon Sculptures.
So Sunak suddenly cancelled his meeting with the Greek prime minister who, in his interview with the BBC, had expressed his intention to raise the issue of the Parthenon Sculptures with him.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had previously met with Keir Starmer, leader of the Labor Party, who had sent the message that after his looming victory in the next elections, he would discuss the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures with Greece.
Starmer smashes Sunak in the polls.
Starmer’s Labor Party leads Sunak’s Conservatives in the latest polls by a margin of 21 points, with Labor at 46% and Sunak’s Conservatives at 25%, another sign of the shrinking party that has led to a chaotic Brexit and a deep economic and social crisis in Britain.
He did not have many ambitions as he came to the leadership of his party as a forced choice, succeeding Liz Truss, and a few days before, accepting the political impasses of his faction, he appointed as foreign minister David Cameron, the fatal politician who as prime minister let Britain be dragged into a referendum for leaving the EU.
Even now, he is trying to patch up the dissolving phenomena that arise daily in the British government, which has been trying in vain lately to convince that it remains a world power.
Due to his Indian origin, Sunak should, of course, be more sensitive to issues such as the Parthenon Sculptures, usury and the cultural “colonial imperialism” of the British Empire. But instead of an open discussion between allies, he preferred to lead Greek-British relations to a crisis to avoid giving answers on the issue.
Britain’s pro-Turkish attitude under Sunak
However, Britain under Sunak has shown another problematic attitude as it is perhaps the only NATO member country (except maybe Spain) that projects a pro-Turkish attitude.
Last week, British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps visited Ankara and met with his Turkish counterpart, Yaşar Güler. At a time when Erdoğan is blackmailing NATO and the Americans and Germans are closing the door on the sale of new fighters, London and the Sunak government are trying to wedge themselves in to support the blackmail of Erdoğan.
Britain and Spain are the countries that are pushing to accept Turkey’s request to the manufacturing consortium for the supply of Eurofighter Typhoons, a request that Turkey is using to blackmail the Americans who have expelled Ankara from the F35 program and keep the issue of the F-16 purchase frozen.
However, the defence ministers of Turkey and Britain agreed to strengthen cooperation in the defence sector further. Turkey’s interest is securing British support for building a “Turkish” engine for the fighter jets its defence industry is planning.
Sunak will probably, in the next elections, be another parenthesis in the adventure experienced by (the Conservative Party) and Britain. His attitude did not help his country.
One could only imagine the response if the Taj Mahal’s and Westminster Abbey’s dome were uprooted and set up as an exhibit in… Texas. It just showed the few arguments for refusing to reunite the Sculptors.
As for him, his opinion will no longer matter in a few months when the elections will occur.
READ MORE: UK Officials Explore Legal Measures to Block Parthenon Sculptures Return Amid Cancelled Meeting.