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
PREM19/1020 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
PREM19/132 Zambia (Policy) Begins: 1979 Jul 13 Ends: 1979 Jul 23 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/284 Ireland (Intelligence on Irish terrorists in the Republic) Begins: 1979 Oct 10 Ends: 1980 Apr 15 Date of release: Retained Sec 3.4 Classification: Unknown
PREM19/287 Legal Procedure (Proposed amendment to Act of Settlement 1701) Begins: 1980 Jul 8 Ends: 1980 Oct 31 Date of release: Temporarily Retained by Department
PREM19/583 Royal family (Form of memorial to Lord Mountbatten; erection of a statue) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Sep 19 Ends: 1981 May 29 Date of release: Closed till 2022 Classification: Unknown
PREM19/584 Royal family (Future career of Prince of Wales) Begins: 1979 May 31 Ends: 1981 Dec 21 Date of release: Closed till 2022 Classification: Unknown
PREM19/586 Security (Case of Howard Marks) Begins: 1979 Jul 4 Ends: 1981 Nov 24 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/590 Security (Policy on interception) (Part 3) Begins: 1980 Apr 18 Ends: 1981 Oct 9 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/660 Argentina (Falklands) Begins: 1982 Apr 8 Ends: 1982 Apr 12 Date of release: Retained Sec 3.4. Reconsideration in 2022 Classification: Unknown
PREM19/684 Defence (Special project) Begins: 1980 May 9 Ends: 1982 Nov 29 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/686 Defence (Intelligence gathering operations) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 May 8 Ends: 1982 Oct 6 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/819 Ireland (Taoiseach Charles Haughey's advice to SDLP's John Hume in upcoming Northern Ireland election) Begins: 1982 Apr 30 Ends: 1982 May 4 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/863 Parliament (Queen's speeches on prorogation and opening of Parliament; televising the State Opening of Parliament) (Part 4) Begins: 1981 Oct 26 Ends: 1982 Oct 26 Date of release: Closed until 2023-01-01 Classification: Unknown
PREM19/870 Poland (Intelligence) Begins: 1982 Jan 8 Ends: 1982 Feb 22 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/899 Royal family (Civil List) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Jun 7 Ends: 1982 Mar 23 Date of release: Retained Classification: Unknown
PREM19/908 Security (Information provided to Sunday Times by a former Security Service officer) Begins: 1982 Jan 24 Ends: 1982 Jan 25 Date of release: Retained Sec 3.4 Classification: Unknown
PREM19/911 Security (Provisional IRA: acquisition of weapons) Begins: 1982 Aug 26 Ends: 1982 Sep 7 Date of release: Retained Sec 3.4 Classification: Unknown
PREM19/912 Security ('Doomsday Minus Four' by Larry Clark) Begins: 1982 Jan 14 Ends: 1982 Jan 15 Date of release: Retained Sec 3.4 Classification: Unknown
PREM19/918 Security (Activities of Leo Long) Begins: 1981 Nov 2 Ends: 1982 Mar 23 Date of release: Retained Sec 3.4 Classification: Unknown
PREM19/954 Argentina (Falklands: sensitive briefing - defence after repossession) (Part 12) Begins: 1982 Dec 27 Ends: 1983 Mar 12 Date of release: Retained Sec 3.4 Classification: Unknown
PREM19/967 Civil service (Long-term management and manpower policy; policy on Civil Service numbers, Financial Management Initiative; response to Select Committee report on efficiency and effectiveness in Civil Service; the extension of unified grading; obligations of managers) (Part 12) Begins: 1982 Dec 2 Ends: 1983 May 24 Date of release: 2013 Aug 1
PREM19/980 Defence (Nuclear release procedures; understandings between the USA and UK on use of nuclear weapons and bases; Anglo/German defence understanding) (Part 3) Begins: 1982 Feb 26 Ends: 1983 Mar 4 Date of release: Retained Sec 3.4 Classification: Unknown
PREM19/1013 Elections (Procedure for General Elections: actions to be taken by Prime Minister's Office; allocation of official residences; questions of procedure for Ministers; Ministerial travel; Queen's speech on opening of Parliament) Begins: 1970 Aug 4 Ends: 1982 Jul 19 Date of release: Retained Classification: Unknown
PREM19/1022 European policy (European Community budget) (Part 21) Begins: 1983 Jun 20 Ends: 1983 Oct 31 Date of release: 2019 Jan 1 Classification: Unknown
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