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 201 - 250 of 1283

Per page:
File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
T640/25 International (London Economic Summit (G7) June 1984) Begins: 1984 May 16 Ends: 1984 May 21 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 136
T640/26 International (London Economic Summit (G7) June 1984) Begins: 1984 May 22 Ends: 1984 May 29 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 209
T640/31 Economy (Economic forecasting and performance 1984) Begins: 1984 Jan 17 Ends: 1984 Jun 13 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 155
T640/32 Economy (Economic forecasting and performance 1984) Begins: 1984 Jun 18 Ends: 1984 Nov 29 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Personal & Secret Pages: 129
T640/33 Budget (Forward Look and stocktaking programmes) Begins: 1984 Nov 28 Ends: 1984 Dec 27 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 166
T640/34 Public spending (Public Expenditure White Paper 1984) Begins: 1984 Jan 5 Ends: 1984 Jul 6 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Personal & Secret Pages: 93
T640/35 International (Sir Peter Middleton's visit to Washington April 1984) Begins: 1984 Apr 10 Ends: 1984 Apr 18 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Restricted Pages: 39
T640/36 International (Briefing for the 1984 International Monetary Fund and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development meetings) Begins: 1984 Sep 6 Ends: 1984 Sep 13 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 131
T640/37 Economy (Trade figures for 1984) Begins: 1984 Mar 26 Ends: 1984 Oct 21 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Personal & Secret Pages: 101
T640/39 Europe (Economic Finane Council meeting Luxembourg June 1984) Begins: 1984 Mar 30 Ends: 1984 Jun 28 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 182
T640/40 International (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Ministerial Council, Paris May 1984) Begins: 1984 Feb 17 Ends: 1984 May 14 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 241
T640/41 International (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Ministerial Council, Paris May 1984) Begins: 1984 May 15 Ends: 1984 May 17 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 78
T640/42 Political (Conservative and the opposition parties policies and public opinion) Begins: 1983 Jul 15 Ends: 1984 Jan 23 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 155
T640/43 Political (Conservative and the opposition parties policies and public opinion) Begins: 1983 Jan 24 Ends: 1984 Feb 8 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 142
T640/44 Political (Conservative and the opposition parties policies and public opinion) Begins: 1984 Feb 4 Ends: 1984 Apr 16 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Personal & Confidential Pages: 147
T640/47 Budget (Chevening meetings) Begins: 1983 Jun 22 Ends: 1984 Feb 7 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 76
T640/50 Political (Briefing for the Chancellor's appearance on question time, contains briefing on the New Ireland Forum) Begins: 1984 May 2 Ends: 1984 May 3 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 31
T640/51 Political (Ministerial speeches and speaking engagements for 1984) Begins: 1983 Jul 18 Ends: 1984 May 20 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 156
T640/52 Political (Ministerial speeches and speaking engagements for 1984) Begins: 1984 May 22 Ends: 1984 Oct 18 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 128
T640/53 Economy (Enterprise initiatives for industry and employment) Begins: 1983 Jul 1 Ends: 1984 May 22 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 159
T640/54 Economy (Enterprise initiatives for industry and employment) Begins: 1984 May 23 Ends: 1984 Oct 22 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 110
T640/55 Economy (Enterprise initiatives for industry and employment) Begins: 1984 Oct 23 Ends: 1984 Dec 12 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 157
T640/56 Administration (Progress report on the Civil Service Catering Organisation) Begins: 1984 Aug 9 Ends: 1984 Nov 2 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 62
T640/58 Political (Chancellor of the Exchequer's bilaterals with the Prime Minister) Begins: 1984 Oct 17 Ends: 1989 Oct 11 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 177
T640/59 Administration (Treasury and Civil Service Committee (TCSC)) Begins: 1984 Nov 27 Ends: 1984 Nov 28 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 71
T640/60 Political (Chancellor of the Exchequer's visit to Manchester, March 1984) Begins: 1983 Sep 20 Ends: 1984 Apr 12 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Restricted Pages: 114
T640/61 Political (Chancellor of the Exchequer's visit to Scotland, May 1984) Begins: 1983 Nov 22 Ends: 1984 May 24 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 133
T640/62 Civil Service (Treasury and Civil Service Committee (TCSC): inquiry into long-term trends) Begins: 1984 May 10 Ends: 1984 Aug 10 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 156
T640/63 Budget (Budget 1986) Begins: 1983 Oct 20 Ends: 1984 Mar 23 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 154
T640/64 Civil Service (Treasury and Civil Service Committee (TCSC): inquiry into international monetary arrangements) Begins: 1984 Jun 15 Ends: 1984 Jul 4 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Unclassified Pages: 70
T640/66 Europe (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on European Parliament elections, June 1984) Begins: 1983 Sep 26 Ends: 1984 Mar 14 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 173
T640/67 Civil Service (Treasury and Civil Service Committee (TCSC): inquiry into the Autumn Statement) Begins: 1984 Nov 23 Ends: 1984 Nov 28 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 148
T640/68 Civil Service (Treasury and Civil Service Committee (TCSC): inquiry into the Autumn Statement) Begins: 1984 Nov 29 Ends: 1984 Dec 3 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 147
T640/69 Civil Service (Treasury and Civil Service Committee (TCSC): inquiry into the Autumn Statement) Begins: 1984 Dec 4 Ends: 1984 Dec 20 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 147
T640/70 Budget (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on the Autumn Statement) Begins: 1984 Sep 13 Ends: 1984 Oct 15 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 189
T640/71 Budget (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on the Autumn Statement) Begins: 1984 Oct 16 Ends: 1984 Nov 1 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 171
T640/72 Budget (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on the Autumn Statement) Begins: 1984 Nov 2 Ends: 1984 Nov 16 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 182
T640/73 Budget (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on the Autumn Statement) Begins: 1984 Nov 16 Ends: 1984 Nov 30 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Personal & Secret Pages: 129
T640/75 Civil Service (Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS): Civil Service) Begins: 1984 Jan 6 Ends: 1984 Dec 1 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Personal & Secret Pages: 111
T640/76 Civil Service (Memorandum for Treasury and Civil Service Committee (TCSC) on the Civil Service) Begins: 1984 Jan 14 Ends: 1989 Nov 10 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Unclassified Pages: 57
T640/77 Administration (Future programme of the Treasury and Civil Service Committee (TCSC)) Begins: 1984 Jan 24 Ends: 1984 Oct 30 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Personal & Confidential Pages: 126
T640/78 Administration (Treasury and Civil Service Committee (TCSC): Estimates 1984-1985) Begins: 1984 Jun 4 Ends: 1984 Sep 10 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Unclassified Pages: 211
T640/79 Administration (Treasury and Civil Service Committee (TCSC): request for public sector statistics) Begins: 1984 Jul 3 Ends: 1984 Jul 10 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 86
T640/80 Budget (Chevening meeting, 14-15 January 1984) Begins: 1983 Dec 22 Ends: 1984 Jan 31 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 261
T640/82 Budget (Budget 1984: leak) Begins: 1984 Feb 29 Ends: 1984 Aug 21 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 138
T640/83 Budget (Budget presentation 1984) Begins: 1983 Jan 13 Ends: 1984 Mar 12 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 136
T640/84 Budget (Budget resolutions 1984) Begins: 1984 Mar 5 Ends: 1984 Mar 9 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 155
T640/85 Budget (Budget debate 1984) Begins: 1984 Mar 6 Ends: 1984 May 15 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 183
T640/86 Budget (Medium Term Financial Strategy 1984) Begins: 1984 Jan 20 Ends: 1984 Apr 4 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 149
T640/87 Budget (Chevening meetings: Financial Statement and Budget Report (FSBR) and Public Sector Borrowing Requirement (PSBR) 1984) Begins: 1983 Jan 11 Ends: 1984 Dec 12 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 158
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