Archive

MT's official files as Prime Minister, 1979-90

MT's official files as PM can be read on this site as they are released, in full and free to all - the confidential files originally stored at No.10, the core record of her premiership.

The files have been copied at the British National Archives (TNA) at Kew in London and can be downloaded precisely as they appear in the reading room.

We are doing something more to help people make sense of this mass of information. The files are subject-based, logically enough, but that system makes it difficult to reconstruct the flow of paper across the Prime Minister’s desk at any point in time, depriving us of a sense of context, of the political cross-winds, some of them overwhelming.

To combat this effect we are uploading a large selection of the most important documents from these files – thousands in total - to our powerful site database. You can search and sort by date, subject and other parameters, getting as close as anyone can now get to reconstructing the Prime Minister’s daily "Red Boxes", the rich diet of foreign and domestic policy papers submitted to her by the No.10 Private Office.

List and links to the PM’s files

Below are links to the downloadable files in numerical order. The subject terms are those used in the original filing system.

An average file has around 200 pages.

You can read here an account of how filing worked at No.10, and the system for archiving MT’s Prime Ministerial papers, both of which had their quirks.

Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Private Office files, 1979-1989

1979-89: Chancellor’s Private Office files [links to hundreds of digitised files from the Chancellorships of Sir Geoffrey Howe and Nigel Lawson]

Engagement Diaries

An alternative way through the material is to read MT’s engagement diaries, jumping day to day.

The engagement diaries link directly to relevant documents in the site database, so this is a good way to recover the perspective from the Red Box.

Showing items 1 - 25 of 3726

Per page:
File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
PREM19/1 Archives (Suez 1956 files) Begins: 1980 Feb 21 Ends: 1986 Jun 30 Date of release: 2006 Dec 1 Classification: Confidential Pages: 36
PREM19/2 Australia (MT visit to, Jul 1979) Begins: 1979 May 21 Ends: 1979 Aug 3 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 212
PREM19/3 China (Premier Hua visit to UK, Oct 1979) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 May 18 Ends: 1979 Nov 29 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 236
PREM19/1618 Royal Family (Broadlands Archives: transfer to Southampton University of papers of Lord Mountbatten) Begins: 1985 Jul 8 Ends: 1985 Sep 24 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30 Classification: Unclassified Pages: 18
PREM19/1020 European policy (European Community budget) (Part 19) Begins: 1982 Nov 4 Ends: 1983 Jan 31 Date of release: 2019 Jan 1 Classification: Unknown
PREM19/1021 European policy (European Community budget) (Part 20) Begins: 1983 Feb 2 Ends: 1983 Jun 17 Date of release: 2019 Jan 1 Classification: Unknown
PREM19/4 Civil Service (Dispersal) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 May 22 Ends: 1979 Oct 15 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 109
PREM19/5 Civil Service (Manpower Freeze) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 May 8 Ends: 1979 May 28 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 189
PREM19/6 Civil Service (Manpower Freeze) (Part 2) Begins: 1979 Sep 7 Ends: 1979 Dec 31 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 198
PREM19/7 Civil Service (Christmas Message) Begins: 1979 Nov 20 Ends: 1979 Nov 26 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 4
PREM19/8 Civil Service (Stock Criticisms) Begins: 1979 Dec 31 Ends: 1979 Dec 31 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Unclassified Pages: 15
PREM19/11 Cuba (Soviet ground forces) Begins: 1979 Sep 5 Ends: 1979 Dec 17 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 28
PREM19/14 Defence (UK Strategic Nuclear Deterrent) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 May 21 Ends: 1979 Dec 15 Date of release: 2013 Sep 24 Classification: Top Secret Pages: 177
PREM19/15 Defence (Modernisation of Theatre Nuclear Forces)(Part 1) Begins: 1979 May 16 Ends: 1979 Nov 29 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 226
PREM19/16 Defence (Anglo-German offset agreement) Begins: 1979 Jul 5 Ends: 1979 Nov 27 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 8
PREM19/17 Defence (Accidental US nuclear alert) Begins: 1979 Nov 10 Ends: 1979 Nov 16 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 9
PREM19/18 Economic policy (Public Spending) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 May 8 Ends: 1979 May 31 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 169
PREM19/19 Economic policy (Public Spending) (Part 2) Begins: 1979 Jun 1 Ends: 1979 Jul 16 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 206
PREM19/20 Economic policy (Public Spending) (Part 3) Begins: 1979 Jul 17 Ends: 1979 Aug 29 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 139
PREM19/21 Economic policy (Public Spending) (Part 4) Begins: 1979 Sep 6 Ends: 1979 Sep 28 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 106
PREM19/22 Economic policy (Public Spending) (Part 5) Begins: 1979 Oct 1 Ends: 1979 Oct 23 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 122
PREM19/23 Economic policy (Public Spending) (Part 6) Begins: 1979 Oct 24 Ends: 1979 Nov 19 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 292
PREM19/24 Economic policy (Strategy) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 May 4 Ends: 1979 Jun 14 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 111
PREM19/25 Economic policy (Strategy) (Part 2) Begins: 1979 Jun 17 Ends: 1979 Jul 13 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 167
PREM19/26 Economic policy (Strategy) (Part 3) Begins: 1979 Jul 16 Ends: 1979 Oct 2 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 56
Per page: