[1/4] An employee views examples of the Parthenon sculptures, sometimes referred to in the UK as the Elgin Marbles, on display at the British Museum in London, Britain, January 25, 2023. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsATHENS/LONDON Nov 28 (Reuters) - Greece's government on Tuesday accused Britain of showing "a lack of respect" by abruptly cancelling a meeting between their leaders at short notice in a dispute over ancient Greek sculptures brought to Britain in the early 19th century. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak cancelled a planned wide-ranging meeting with his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis after the latter raised the decades-old demand for the return of the Parthenon sculptures from the British Museum. "It shows a lack of respect to the prime minister but also to the country he represents." "I don't think the prime minister needed really to intervene in this way and it hasn't particularly helped our relationships with Greece."

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Persons: Toby Melville, Rishi Sunak, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Pavlos Marinakis, Lord Elgin, Mitsotakis, Mona Lisa, Marinakis, Ed Vaizey, Vaizey, Alistair Smout, Bernadette Baum Organizations: Elgin, British Museum, REUTERS, British, BBC, Conservative, Sky News, Thomson Locations: London, Britain, Greece, Ottoman, Athens, Gaza, Ukraine, British