Few can resist the lure of the Greek summer — not even the man who holds the title of prime minister of Britain. A cheerful-looking Boris Johnson and his wife were spotted stocking up on foodstuffs in a supermarket at a beach town near Athens over the weekend, and cellphone video footage of the shopping excursion quickly made the rounds in Greece, where it was viewed with a mix of bemusement and quiet approval. In London, news of the vacationing prime minister was not as welcome. 

That’s because though Mr. Johnson announced his resignation in July, he is prime minister until a new Conservative party leader is elected on September 5. That state of play may be what prompted the Telegraph, normally one of the reliably pro-Johnson newspapers, to write that the leader’s Hellenic holiday “comes amid claims the Prime Minister is ‘missing in action’ and presiding over a ‘zombie government’ during a mounting cost-of-living crisis” in Britain. 

Plus, earlier this month, the paper reported, the Johnsons went on a belated honeymoon at an eco-resort in Slovenia. It appears that taking “a second foreign holiday in a fortnight” has ruffled some feathers. The left-leaning Guardian newspaper reported that a spokesman for the opposition Labour party said: “It’s all just one big party for Boris Johnson while the country struggles to pay their bills.”

The Guardian reported that even after facing criticism for taking a second vacation abroad within three weeks against the backdrop of an escalating energy crisis, Downing Street admitted that Mr. Johnson will not be working while on holiday “unless he is needed urgently.”

In the prime minister’s defense, and as evidenced by his everyman supermarket run in the low-key beach town of Nea Makri, it is highly unlikely that he will be embarking on a flamboyant, Mykonos-style Greek escapade. After all, his father, Stanley Johnson, owns a house on Greece’s scenic Pelion peninsula, mythological home of the centaur. According to Greek media reports, members of the Johnson family visit the house every summer. 

Also, there is one political matter that while not urgent for Downing Street is a priority for Athens, and that is Greece’s increasingly loud demand that Britain return the famed Parthenon marbles that have been on display in the British Museum since 1832.  Last year Mr. Johnson said that repatriating the ancient artworks was a matter for the British Museum, which marked a reversal of a longstanding British government position. Will abundant Greek sunshine and sea air soften Mr. Johnson’s position further while he still holds the keys to Number 10? Many in Greece will be wondering — as soon as they, too, get back from the beach.