George Osborne says the British Museum can strike a deal to have the Elgin Marbles temporarily returned to Athens – despite an ongoing spat between the government and Greece.

Mr Osborne, who is chairman of the British Museum trustees, said the sculptures could be exchanged for ancient artefacts that have never been seen in the UK.

Taking a dig at Rishi Sunak, the former Chancellor insisted that everyone is “very much up for a deal” even if the British government is not speaking to the Greek prime minister.

His barb comes weeks after Mr Sunak ditched a planned meeting with his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis after accusing him of grandstanding about the return of the ancient sculptures.

Speaking on the latest edition of his Political Currency podcast, which he co-hosts with Ed Balls, Mr Osborne said “there is room for agreement”.

“I hope we can do a deal between the British Museum and the Greek government and the Acropolis Museum and that’s a deal that allows us to share the viewing of the Marbles, the great sculptures that used to go around the Acropolis in ancient Greece, but not in a way that challenges anyone’s fundamental claims,” he said.

“Greece will always say that they are rightfully Greece’s and the law is very clear that they are the possession of the British Museum.

“And we’ve heard from this Conservative government that that’s not going to change. We’ve heard from the Starmer potential Labour government, that’s not going to change.”

“I think we could reach an agreement, whereby a portion of the marbles are at any one time on display in Athens and at the same time, some wonderful Greek treasures that have never left Greece, come and are on display in the British Museum, like the mask of Agamemnon, for example.”

Mr Osborne said the deal is “not an easy deal to pull off” but could be done so without changing the law in parliament.

“I’m reasonably optimistic. Certainly the trustees of the museum are very much up for a deal. I think the Greek government is very much up for a deal.”

“And even if the British government is not speaking to the Greek prime minister, the British Museum is.”

Greek Culture minister Lina Mendoni this week said the country will lend the British Museum some of its most “important antiquities” to “fill the void” if the marbles are temporarily returned to Athens.

She suggested “rotating exhibitions” that featured some of Greece’s most celebrated antiquities could help resolve the cultural dispute.

Greece has long demanded the return of the Elgin Marbles, also known as the Parthenon Sculptures, which were removed by Lord Elgin from occupied Athens in the early 19th century, when he was the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.

They were purchased by Parliament from Lord Elgin in 1816.

Part of friezes that adorned the 2,500-year-old Parthenon temple on the Acropolis, the Elgin Marbles have been displayed at the British Museum in London for more than 200 years.

Most of the remaining sculptures are in a purpose-built museum in Athens.

It comes as newly released files revealed that Tony Blair responded enthusiastically to a proposal to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece in an attempt to boost support for London’s bid to host the Olympic Games.

Papers released by the National Archives in Kew, west London, show No 10 advisers believed the Marbles could be a “powerful bargaining chip” in the race to host the 2012 summer games.

However, they warned any attempt to reach a sharing agreement with Athens could face stiff resistance due to the “blinkered intransigence” of the British Museum.