Archive

Large scale document 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 501 - 525 of 1282

Items per page
File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
T640/436 Budget (Economic forecasting as policy background to the 1987 Budget) 1986 Dec 10 1987 Jan 6 2014 Secret 134
T640/437 Budget (Economic forecasting as policy background to the 1987 Budget) 1987 Jan 7 1987 Jan 9 2014 Secret 95
T640/439 Budget (Chevening meeting, 10-11 January 1987) 1987 Jan 6 1987 Jan 13 2014 Secret 109
T640/440 Europe (Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) meetings 1987) 1987 Jan 5 1987 Jul 3 2014 Confidential 189
T640/441 Europe (Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) meetings 1987) 1987 Jul 7 1987 Sep 14 2014 Secret 213
T640/442 Europe (Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) meetings 1987) 1987 Oct 5 1987 Nov 12 2014 Confidential 307
T640/443 Europe (Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) meetings 1987) 1987 Nov 13 1987 Nov 13 2014 Secret 230
T640/444 Europe (Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) meetings 1987) 1987 Nov 16 1987 Dec 10 2014 Confidential 156
T640/445 International (Cable and Wireless Communications PLC shareholdings) 1987 Mar 4 1987 Sep 3 2014 Confidential 21
T640/446 Economy (Retail Price Index (RPI) 1987) 1986 Oct 20 1987 Sep 16 2014 Personal & Secret 173
T640/447 Economy (Proposals for wider share ownership) 1986 Oct 1 1987 Jul 22 2014 Secret 138
T640/448 Economy (Proposals for wider share ownership) 1987 Jul 23 1987 Sep 14 2014 Secret 110
T640/449 Economy (Proposals for wider share ownership) 1987 Sep 15 1987 Dec 14 2014 Confidential 172
T640/450 Economy (Short-term prospects for the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) deflator) 1987 Jul 9 1987 Sep 8 2014 Secret 31
T640/451 Economy (Economic forecasts and assumptions) 1987 Oct 9 1987 Oct 15 2014 Secret 161
T640/453 Economy (National and Local Government Officers Association report on Sex Equality in Pension Schemes) 1986 Mar 19 1987 Jan 19 2014 Unclassified 30
T640/455 International (Proposals to expand Group of Ten (G10) membership to include Austria, Australia and Spain) 1986 Dec 31 1987 Nov 11 2014 Confidential 124
T640/456 Monetary policy (Demand for sterling £M3) 1986 Jul 4 1987 Apr 1 2014 Secret 40
T640/457 Monetary policy (Losses to gilt-edged market markers) 1987 Sep 22 1987 Nov 19 2014 Secret 20
T640/459 Monetary policy (Interest rates) 1986 Jan 7 1987 Dec 4 2014 Secret 75
T640/460 Monetary policy (Monthly monetary assessments) 1987 Jun 30 1987 Oct 19 2014 Personal & Secret 240
T640/461 Monetary policy (Monthly monetary assessments) 1987 Oct 20 1987 Nov 19 2014 Personal & Secret 240
T640/462 Monetary policy (Monthly monetary assessments) 1987 Nov 26 1987 Dec 24 2014 Personal & Secret 203
T640/464 Public spending (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on Civil Service management and pay issues) 1987 Jan 23 1987 Jun 19 2014 Confidential 142
T640/465 Public spending (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on Civil Service management and pay issues) 1987 Jun 19 1987 Jul 27 2014 Confidential 136
Items per page