However, he said all sides must “find a way forward around cultural exchange of a level, intensity and dynamism that has not been devised so far”. He added: “There’s a lot of great stuff we’d be happy to borrow and lend. That’s what we’re doing.” Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek prime minister, has repeatedly called for the Parthenon Marbles to be returned to Greece, even offering to lend some of his country’s other treasures to the British Museum in return. He reiterated that Greece is open to negotiations, but said that “babies are not enough. We want big steps.” Nikolaos Stampolidis, director of the Acropolis Museum, also said there could be a “basis for constructive talks” with the offer of “positive cooperation of the Parthenon”. “In the troubled days we live in, their return would be an act of history. It would be like the British restoring democracy itself,” he added.