Archive

Treasury Private Office papers

In 2012 www.margaretthatcher.org uncovered through an FOI request the existence of a vast cache of secret papers stored at H.M. Treasury, some 4,850 files from the Private Office of successive Chancellors (and Chief Secretaries) between 1979 and 1997.

The files contain the most politically sensitive documents from the very top of the Treasury, the small circle of Ministers, Special Advisers and Private Secretaries, which were stored, when in use, only a few doors from the Chancellor's room for convenience and security. Their like is rarely found at the National Archives in Kew. These documents are of deep historical interest, an intact Private Office collection in scale and importance exceeded only by that from No.10 itself, relied on by Treasury ministers when writing their memoirs. It is an un-looted tomb in Whitehall's Valley of the Kings - the Palace accountant's rather than the Pharaoh's, but well worth the ticket.

When it first revealed the existence of the files the Treasury stated that it intended to destroy the whole lot, waiting politely till the various Chancellors died off. It was claimed, quite mistakenly, that the contents of these files are either ephemeral or copied elsewhere, and so should not be considered part of "the definitive policy record" maintained by its various divisions for archiving at Kew.

Later, and following representations, officials denied that destruction was ever intended. The first section, covering the Chancellorship of Sir Geoffrey Howe, 1979-83, was released at TNA in 2016; the files have been digitised and uploaded to the list below. The bulk of Nigel Lawson's files, 1983-89, were released at TNA in early 2018 and have also been digitised; they are being uploaded progressively and many are now available on this page. The spreadsheet giving the full list 1979-97 can be downloaded below.

Although some of the files relate to 1979 and 1980, the filing system glimpsed here only got into full operation in 1981, so earlier records are something of a legacy from what went before and are significantly fewer.

The Treasury has also released Nick Ridley's surviving Private Office files as Financial Secretary to the Treasury. These are diferent in form to the Chancellor's files, consisting largely of photocopies of minutes and meetings records relating to directly to Ridley with very little incoming correspondence. They are not listed in the spreadsheet already mentioned, so must derive from the 'unstructured' files already referred to. They are in rough chronological order - a sort of day file.

How to use this page?

Below are links to the downloadable files in numerical order. The original file names have been modified to convey content more readily.

An average file has around 100 pages.

Some of these downloads are very big, as large as 50MB, though most are in the range 1-10MB.

Where documents within a file have been selected for the site database, they can easily be viewed by clicking the file name link.

Selected documents in site database

Documents from the files selected for the site database can be read here. Progressively more will be uploaded over time.

Showing items 1 - 25 of 1283

Per page:
File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
T640/427 Monetary policy (The Royal Mint: designs for the gold Britannia coin. With photographs) Begins: 1987 Jul 31 Ends: 1987 Jul 31 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Unclassified Pages: 20163
T639/142 Budget (Briefing 1983) Begins: 1983 Mar 14 Ends: 1983 Mar 28 Date of release: 2012 Classification: Secret Pages: 564
T639/140 Budget (Briefing 1983) Begins: 1983 Feb 22 Ends: 1983 Mar 8 Date of release: 2012 Classification: Secret Pages: 552
T639/146 Budget (Speech 1983 seventh draftt) Begins: 1983 Mar 10 Ends: 1983 Mar 11 Date of release: 2012 Classification: Secret Pages: 543
T639/179 Public expenditure (Waste in public expenditure) Begins: 1979 May 10 Ends: 1979 Dec 20 Date of release: 2012 Classification: Personal & Secret Pages: 523
T639/145 Budget (Speech 1983 sixth draftt) Begins: 1983 Mar 8 Ends: 1983 Mar 9 Date of release: 2012 Classification: Secret Pages: 513
T640/1221 Budget (Budget speech 1989) Begins: 1989 Mar 13 Ends: 1989 Oct 30 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 512
T639/161 Budget (Speech 1983) Begins: 1982 Jan 11 Ends: 1983 Mar 15 Date of release: 2012 Classification: Secret Pages: 461
T639/138 Budget (Briefing 1983) Begins: 1982 Nov 8 Ends: 1983 Feb 2 Date of release: 2012 Classification: Secret Pages: 457
T640/1200 Budget (Budget briefing 1989) Begins: 1989 Mar 8 Ends: 1989 Mar 8 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 454
T639/84 Budget (1982 - speech, fourth and final draft) Part A Begins: 1982 Mar 1 Ends: 1982 Mar 5 Date of release: 2012 Classification: Secret Pages: 451
T639/144 Budget (Speech 1983 fourth and fifth draft) Begins: 1983 Feb 28 Ends: 1983 Mar 9 Date of release: 2012 Classification: Secret Pages: 447
T640/1023 International (International Monetary Fund (IMF) and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD): annual meeting; agenda papers) Begins: 1988 Aug 12 Ends: 1988 Aug 12 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 445
T639/139 Budget (Briefing 1983) Begins: 1983 Feb 2 Ends: 1983 Feb 14 Date of release: 2012 Classification: Secret Pages: 443
T639/143 Budget (Speech 1983 second and third draft) Begins: 1983 Feb 18 Ends: 1983 Feb 25 Date of release: 2012 Classification: Secret Pages: 441
T640/181 Budget (1986 Budget financial statement and budget report and Medium Term Financial Strategy) Begins: 1986 Feb 28 Ends: 1986 Mar 10 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 432
T640/1 Budget (Budget 1979: minutes of meetings) Begins: 1979 May 9 Ends: 1979 Jun 11 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 430
T639/85 Budget (1982 - speech, fourth and final draft) Part B Begins: 1982 Mar 1 Ends: 1982 Mar 5 Date of release: 2012 Classification: Secret Pages: 423
T639/252 International (IMF Interim Committee Washington, 10-11 Feb 1983) Begins: 1983 Jan 14 Ends: 1983 Feb 17 Date of release: 2012 Classification: Confidential Pages: 418
T639/159 Budget (Financial Statement Budget Report 1983) Begins: 1982 Oct 12 Ends: 1983 Mar 15 Date of release: 2012 Classification: Secret Pages: 412
T640/912 Budget (Budget speech and statement 1988) Begins: 1988 Mar 11 Ends: 1988 Mar 14 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 410
T640/341 Budget (1987 Budget statements) Begins: 1987 Jan 30 Ends: 1987 Feb 27 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 405
T640/634 Budget (Budget speech 1988) Begins: 1988 Feb 8 Ends: 1988 Feb 26 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 398
T640/905 Budget (Budget speech and statement 1988) Begins: 1987 Mar 19 Ends: 1988 Feb 19 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 395
T639/265/2 Budget (Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures, Part 2) Begins: 1979 Nov 19 Ends: 1984 Jan 25 Date of release: 2012 Classification: Personal & Secret Pages: 392
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