The extent to which Boris Johnson encouraged Greece to launch its campaign to retrieve the Parthenon marbles has been revealed in letters written by the future prime minister to the woman who would head the initiative with unprecedented gusto.
In unambiguous prose detailing his affiliation to “the cause”, Johnson, then president of the Oxford Union, implored the Greek culture minister, Melina Mercouri, to put the case for the return of the antiquities before the society, saying her participation in the debate “would be an important step in your campaign”.
