David Cameron dismisses Tory plea to return Elgin Marbles to Greece

The former prime minister returned from the political grave last month when Rishi Sunak appointed him Foreign Secretary.

In order to fulfil the role he had to be made a peer in the House of Lords.

However, parliamentary rules dictate that he cannot appear in-front of MPs in the House of Commons – with many raising questions about how Cameron will be held to account in his role.

On Tuesday, during his first questions session in the House of Lords, was asked whether returning the Parthenon Marbles would serve to rekindle the bond between the UK and Greece.

Tory peer Lord Dobbs – who is best known for writing the House of Cards trilogy of novels – asked: “May I simply say that in our really crappy world, is it not right that we should reach out and use as much soft power as we can to reforge and strengthen our relations with our old friend?”

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Dobbs is sits on the advisory board of the Parthenon Project – an organisation which aims to reunify the sculptures currently on display in the British Museum with other remaining pieces from the Acropolis in Athens.

But Cameron dismissed the plea, claiming that the relationship between the UK and Greece remains strong despite the disagreement.

“I don’t agree with him about what he says about the Elgin Marbles,” he said.

“The Government has a very clear position on that, it has been set out.

Tory peer Michael Dobbs wants the Parthenon Marbles to be returned to Athens

“I met the Greek foreign minister while I was at the Nato conference and we had a great discussion about all the other aspects of our relationship, where we are strong friends, allies and partners.”

During the session Cameron also stressed the needed to tackle small boat crossings as he gave his full backing to the Rwanda asylum plan.

The Cabinet minister said there was “nothing more destructive” to a country’s border system than such “visible” illegal migration.

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He said that during his seven-year absence from politics the debate had changed and many European countries were “extremely worried” about the scale of the problem.

It came as Home Secretary James Cleverly agreed a new legally binding treaty with Rwanda aimed at addressing why the Supreme Court ruled the flagship asylum policy unlawful.

The scheme, which will see some asylum seekers sent on a one-way trip to Rwanda instead of being able to try to stay in the UK, is seen by the Government as central to its efforts to deter small boats crossing the English Channel.

Speaking in the upper chamber, Lord Cameron said: “One of the things, I think, that has most changed in my seven-year absence from politics is that the debate within EU countries about migration has completely changed.

“Many more are extremely worried about the scale of illegal migration and the need to do some quite creative thinking about how you can deal with this problem.

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“I fully support what the Government is doing because we have to stop these illegal boat crossings.

“There is nothing more destructive to a country’s immigration system than to have a continued and very visible amount of illegal migration.

“I think the approach that is being taken to break the criminal gangs and their ability to say to people, ‘We will get you to the shore of the UK and from then you are safe’, we have to stop that and that is what the Rwanda plan is all about.”

The SNP claim the proposal of deporting migrants to Rwanda is “morally wrong and inhumane.”