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 701 - 725 of 1282

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File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
T640/679 Privatisation (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on privatisation policy) 1988 Mar 3 1988 May 12 2014 Secret 176
T640/680 Privatisation (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on privatisation policy) 1988 May 12 1988 Jun 27 2014 Secret 170
T640/681 Privatisation (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on privatisation policy) 1988 Jun 29 1988 Aug 4 2014 Confidential 181
T640/684 Privatisation (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on privatisation policy) 1988 Nov 22 1988 Dec 22 2014 Personal & Confidential 124
T640/685 Economy (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on the Economic Progress Report) 1988 Jan 8 1988 Nov 23 2014 Unclassified 122
T640/686 Economy (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on the operation of British docks) 1988 Jan 7 1988 Dec 21 2014 Personal & Secret 52
T640/688 Economy (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on mergers policy and the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC)) 1988 Sep 21 1988 Nov 16 2014 Personal & Confidential 121
T640/689 Economy (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on the British Steel Corporation) 1988 Sep 28 1989 Dec 22 2014 Personal & Secret 146
T640/690 Monetary policy (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on the Retail Price Index (RPI)) 1972 Jan 9 1988 Mar 25 2014 Personal & Confidential 102
T640/692 Economy (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on the shipbuilding industry) 1988 Mar 22 1988 Apr 19 2014 Secret 165
T640/693 Economy (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on the shipbuilding industry) 1988 Apr 20 1988 May 18 2014 Secret 162
T640/694 Economy (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on the shipbuilding industry) 1988 May 18 1988 Jul 11 2014 Secret 214
T640/695 Economy (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on the shipbuilding industry) 1988 Jul 11 1988 Sep 19 2014 Secret 145
T640/696 Economy (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on the shipbuilding industry) 1988 Sep 19 1988 Nov 7 2014 Secret 166
T640/697 Economy (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on the shipbuilding industry) 1988 Nov 10 1988 Dec 21 2014 Confidential 112
T640/698 Privatisation (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on oil policy, including the privatisation of British Petroleum (BP)) 1988 Jan 4 1988 Jan 22 2014 Personal & Secret 171
T640/699 Privatisation (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on oil policy, including the privatisation of British Petroleum (BP)) 1988 Jan 22 1988 Mar 3 2014 Secret 206
T640/701 Privatisation (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on oil policy, including the privatisation of British Petroleum (BP)) 1988 Apr 27 1988 Jun 30 2014 Secret 193
T640/702 Privatisation (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on oil policy, including the privatisation of British Petroleum (BP)) 1988 Jun 30 1988 Sep 13 2014 Secret 184
T640/703 Privatisation (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on oil policy, including the privatisation of British Petroleum (BP)) 1988 Sep 19 1988 Dec 18 2014 Personal & Secret 135
T640/714 Economy (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on a national lottery) 1988 Jan 5 1988 Jun 17 2014 Secret 186
T640/716 Economy (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on a national lottery) 1988 Sep 14 1988 Dec 2 2014 Confidential 148
T640/717 Economy (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on a national lottery) 1988 Dec 7 1988 Dec 22 2014 Confidential 60
T640/718 Public spending (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on funding and gilts) 1988 Jan 4 1988 Mar 30 2014 Personal & Secret 180
T640/719 Public spending (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on funding and gilts) 1988 Apr 7 1988 Nov 11 2014 Secret 136
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