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 651 - 675 of 1282

Per page:
File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
T640/614 Budget (Budget 1988: fringe benefits) Begins: 1988 Jan 12 Ends: 1988 Feb 16 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 173
T640/615 Budget (Representations on the 1987-1988 Budgets) Begins: 1988 Feb 4 Ends: 1988 Feb 29 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 110
T640/616 Budget (Budget day pamphlets) Begins: 1988 Jan 26 Ends: 1988 Feb 15 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 134
T640/617 Budget (Financial sector borrowing requirements and Budget packaging 1988) Begins: 1988 Feb 15 Ends: 1988 Mar 11 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 301
T640/618 International (World financial markets 1987-1988) Begins: 1987 Dec 8 Ends: 1988 Jan 22 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 156
T640/619 International (World financial markets 1987-1988) Begins: 1988 Jan 25 Ends: 1988 Feb 9 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 212
T640/620 International (World financial markets 1987-1988) Begins: 1988 Feb 10 Ends: 1988 Apr 29 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 133
T640/621 International (Aid Framework: use of the unallocated Reserve) Begins: 1987 Feb 4 Ends: 1988 Aug 17 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Restricted Pages: 149
T640/623 Public spending (Negotiations over teachers' pay and conditions) Begins: 1987 Oct 20 Ends: 1988 Oct 17 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 119
T640/624 Budget (Budget 1988: private rented accommodation) Begins: 1988 Feb 9 Ends: 1988 Mar 8 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 45
T640/625 Budget (Budget presentation, press release and broadcasting 1988) Begins: 1987 Nov 12 Ends: 1988 Mar 15 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 236
T640/627 Budget (Budget 1988: scorecard and overview) Begins: 1987 Jan 14 Ends: 1988 Jan 21 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 303
T640/628 Budget (Budget 1988: scorecard and overview) Begins: 1988 Jan 22 Ends: 1988 Feb 23 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 371
T640/629 Budget (Budget 1988: scorecard and overview) Begins: 1988 Feb 26 Ends: 1988 Jun 15 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 194
T640/630 Budget (Budget 1988: scorecard and overview) Begins: 1988 Jun 17 Ends: 1988 Oct 18 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Personal & Secret Pages: 132
T640/631 Budget (Budget 1988: scorecard and overview) Begins: 1988 Oct 18 Ends: 1988 Oct 26 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Personal & Secret Pages: 164
T640/632 Budget (Budget 1988: scorecard and overview) Begins: 1988 Oct 27 Ends: 1988 Oct 31 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Personal & Secret Pages: 111
T640/633 Budget (Budget 1988: scorecard and overview) Begins: 1988 Oct 31 Ends: 1988 Oct 31 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Personal & Secret Pages: 119
T640/634 Budget (Budget speech 1988) Begins: 1988 Feb 8 Ends: 1988 Feb 26 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 398
T640/635 Budget (Budget speech 1988) Begins: 1988 Feb 29 Ends: 1988 Mar 15 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 315
T640/637 Budget (Budget 1988: tax issues) Begins: 1987 Jan 29 Ends: 1988 Feb 17 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 163
T640/638 Monetary policy (The Royal Mint: Annual Report 1988) Begins: 1988 Mar 31 Ends: 1988 Mar 31 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Unclassified Pages: 32
T640/639 Monetary policy (The Royal Mint: Annual Report 1988) Begins: 1988 Mar 31 Ends: 1988 Mar 31 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 34
T640/640 Monetary policy (The Royal Mint: designs for the proposed new 5, 10 and 50 pence pieces. With photograph) Begins: 1988 Aug 1 Ends: 1988 Aug 1 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Unclassified Pages: 9
T640/641 Europe (Single European market meeting, Hanover, June 1988) Begins: 1988 Feb 5 Ends: 1988 Jun 24 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 142
Per page: