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
PREM19/6222 Former Prime Ministers (Lady Thatcher) (Part 2) Begins: 1993 May 12 Ends: 1997 Mar 17 Date of release: 2020 Dec 30 Any docs withheld? 2 Classification: Confidential Pages: 105
PREM19/5478 Venezuela (Internal situation: UK/Venezuela relations) (Part 1) Begins: 1983 Jan 6 Ends: 1995 Dec 7 Date of release: 2019 Dec 31 Classification: Secret Pages: 22
PREM19/4948 Former Prime Ministers (Sir Winston Churchill's wartime diary) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Dec 1 Ends: 1994 Apr 18 Date of release: 2020 Dec 30
PREM19/4928 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with Admiral Lee Baggett Jnr, SACLANT (Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic), 13 March 1986: includes correspondence regarding a telephone call between the PM and General John Galvin, US Army Supreme Commander Allied Powers Europe, 3 February 1992) Begins: 1986 Jan 30 Ends: 1992 Jan 16 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4927 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meetings with Lord Mayors of London, 25 July 1983, 13 May 1992, 2 November 1993) (Part 1) Begins: 1983 Jul 22 Ends: 1994 Nov 16 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4923 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meetings with Jeffrey Sterling to discuss shipping, the UK economy and other issues) Begins: 1989 Jan 9 Ends: 1994 Jul 13 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4907 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meetings and correspondence with President of the National Farmers' Union and National Farmers' Union of Scotland) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Nov 2 Ends: 1994 Feb 4 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4887 Parliament (House of Lords procedure: televising of House of Lords proceedings) (Part 2) Begins: 1983 Feb 3 Ends: 1994 Dec 23 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4873 Parliament (The Speaker's overseas travel plans) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Jul 31 Ends: 1994 Mar 24 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4872 Parliament (Prime Minister's meeting with the Speaker of House of Commons) (Part 1) Begins: 1983 Nov 14 Ends: 1994 Mar 7 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4870 Papua New Guinea (Relations) (Part 1) Begins: 1980 Mar 21 Ends: 1994 Dec 30 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4869 Panama (UK/Panama relations: internal situation) (Part 1) Begins: 1983 Nov 15 Ends: 1994 May 13 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4860 NATO (Call on the Prime Minister by the Chairman of NATO) Begins: 1980 Mar 1 Ends: 1994 May 18 Date of release: 2019 Feb 6
PREM19/4858 NATO (Appointment of Secretary General of NATO) (Part 1) Begins: 1980 Sep 1 Ends: 1994 Jun 1 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4850 National Health (Policy on smoking and health: tobacco advertising) Begins: 1980 Apr 28 Ends: 1994 May 31 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4848 Nepal (UK/Nepal relations: internal situation) (Part 1) Begins: 1981 Jun 19 Ends: 1994 Dec 21 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4847 Nauru (Internal situation: Nauru/UK relations) (Part 1) Begins: 1986 Sep 26 Ends: 1994 Jan 12 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4828 Mexico (Anglo-Mexican relations: internal situation in Mexico) (Part 2) Begins: 1986 Aug 25 Ends: 1994 Dec 5 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4827 Memoirs (Policy on Ministerial memoirs: Radcliffe Report on Ministerial Memoirs; Margaret Thatcher Downing Street Years) (Part 4) Begins: 1993 Jun 1 Ends: 1994 Jul 4 Date of release: 2021 Sep 15 Classification: Confidential Pages: 114
PREM19/4819 Malawi (UK/Malawi relations: internal situation) (Part 1) Begins: 1983 May 20 Ends: 1994 May 23 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4818 Luxembourg (UK/Luxembourg relations: internal situation) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Jul 1 Ends: 1994 Oct 6 Date of release: 2019 Feb 6
PREM19/4807 Lesotho (UK/ Lesotho relations: internal situation; aid to Lesotho) Begins: 1980 Mar 1 Ends: 1994 Jun 17 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4803 Labour Party (The Labour Party's strategy and policy: record of taxation; defence policy) Begins: 1983 Nov 21 Ends: 1994 Oct 6 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4801 North Korea (UK/North Korea relations: internal situation) (Part 1) Begins: 1981 Aug 27 Ends: 1994 Sep 5 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4799 Kiribati (UK/Kiribati relations: internal situation; visits by Ieremia Tabai and Teatao Teannaki) Begins: 1985 Nov 20 Ends: 1994 May 10 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
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