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 3576 - 3600 of 3727

Per page:
File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
PREM19/3347 France (Visits to the UK by Jacques Chirac (Mayor of Paris / Prime Minister) and Michel Rocard (Prime Minister)) (Part 1) Begins: 1982 Jan 25 Ends: 1991 Mar 27 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 7 Classification: Top Secret - UK Eyes A Pages: 340
PREM19/2401 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's international commitments) (Part 1) Begins: 1983 Dec 16 Ends: 1988 May 5 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Any docs withheld? 7 Classification: Personal & Confidential Pages: 226
PREM19/2911 Austria (UK/Austrian relations: internal situation; Waldheim Report) Begins: 1981 Dec 24 Ends: 1990 May 31 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 7 Classification: Secret Pages: 280
PREM19/3080 Middle East (Situation in the Middle East: Iraqi invasion of Kuwait) (Part 27) Begins: 1990 Sep 1 Ends: 1990 Sep 16 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30 Any docs withheld? 7 Classification: Top Secret Pages: 299
PREM19/1911 Prime Minister's Tours Abroad (Prime Minister's visit to South Korea and to Japan for Tokyo Economic Summit, May 1986: administrative arrangements) Begins: 1985 Dec 4 Ends: 1986 Jul 14 Date of release: 2016 Feb 19 Any docs withheld? 7 Classification: Confidential Pages: 451
PREM19/1798 Hong Kong (Nomenclature in Hong Kong passports: requests for British citizenship) Begins: 1982 Oct 4 Ends: 1986 Jun 30 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 7 Classification: Secret Pages: 201
PREM19/2505 Security (Security of the Secret Services: Chapman Pincher's book 'Their Trade is Treachery'; Peter Wright case) (Part 6) Begins: 1987 Mar 13 Ends: 1987 Mar 31 Date of release: 2023 Dec 29 Any docs withheld? 7 Classification: Secret Pages: 102
PREM19/2453 Prime Minister's Tours Abroad (Prime Minister's visit to G7 Economic Summit in Toronto and to Ottawa, June 1988: administrative arrangements) Begins: 1987 Jun 30 Ends: 1988 Aug 10 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Any docs withheld? 7 Classification: Secret Pages: 318
PREM19/771 Government buildings (Building of an international conference centre on Broad Sanctuary in Westminster; redevelopment of Richmond Yard/Bridge Street site) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Oct 1 Ends: 1982 Sep 30 Date of release: 2012 Dec 28 Any docs withheld? 8 Classification: Secret Pages: 215
PREM19/943 USA (Visit to UK by President Reagan, June 1982: meetings with Prime Minister) (Part 2) Begins: 1982 May 5 Ends: 1982 Jul 1 Date of release: 2012 Dec 28 Any docs withheld? 8 Classification: Secret Pages: 227
PREM19/1262 Hong Kong (Future of Hong Kong) (Part 11) Begins: 1984 Jan 3 Ends: 1984 Jan 31 Date of release: 2014 Jan 3 Any docs withheld? 8 Classification: Secret Pages: 310
PREM19/2269 Iraq (Internal situation: Iran-Iraq War) (Part 9) Begins: 1988 Jan 1 Ends: 1988 Dec 31 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 8 Classification: Top Secret Pages: 473
PREM19/2526 South Africa (Internal situation: relations with UK) (Part 16) Begins: 1988 Jun 2 Ends: 1988 Aug 26 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Any docs withheld? 8 Classification: Secret Pages: 289
PREM19/2286 Japan (Vredeling Proposal on labour relations in the European Community; trade links between the European Community, USA and Japan) Begins: 1983 Dec 2 Ends: 1988 Mar 11 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30 Any docs withheld? 8 Classification: Confidential Pages: 241
PREM19/3086 Middle East (Situation in the Middle East: Iraqi invasion of Kuwait) (Part 33) Begins: 1990 Nov 1 Ends: 1990 Nov 17 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 8 Classification: Top Secret - Cab One Pages: 375
PREM19/3439 Middle East (Situation in the Middle East: Iraqi invasion of Kuwait) (Part 34) Begins: 1990 Nov 18 Ends: 1990 Dec 6 Date of release: 2018 Jul 24 Any docs withheld? 8 Classification: Top Secret - Cab One Pages: 298
PREM19/3827 Israel (Visits to the UK by Israeli Foreign Ministers) Begins: 1986 Sep 15 Ends: 1992 Sep 8 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Any docs withheld? 8 Classification: Secret Pages: 179
PREM19/3419 Kuwait (Visits of the Amir of Kuwait: visits of Shaikh Saad, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Kuwait) (Part 1) Begins: 1982 Dec 21 Ends: 1991 Oct 5 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 8 Classification: Secret Pages: 201
PREM19/3417 Kenya (UK/Kenya relations: internal situation) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Jun 8 Ends: 1991 Oct 28 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 8 Classification: Secret Pages: 292
PREM19/3307 Ethiopia (Internal situation: relations with UK) (Part 1) Begins: 1982 Dec 1 Ends: 1991 Oct 31 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 8 Classification: Secret Pages: 245
PREM19/3244 Commonwealth (Meetings with the Commonwealth Secretary-General) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 May 24 Ends: 1991 Aug 28 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 8 Classification: Secret Pages: 281
PREM19/3210 USA (UK/USA relations) (Part 7) Begins: 1989 May 2 Ends: 1990 Aug 31 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 8 Classification: Secret Pages: 323
PREM19/3138 Prime Minister's Tours Abroad (Prime Minister's visit to Helsinki, August 1990: administrative arrangements) Begins: 1990 Mar 1 Ends: 1990 Oct 2 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 8 Classification: Confidential Pages: 122
PREM19/3106 Parliament (Appointment of Parliamentary Private Secretaries) (Part 3) Begins: 1986 Jun 10 Ends: 1990 Dec 31 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 8 Classification: Confidential Pages: 430
PREM19/3091 Mozambique (Internal situation: aid programme; relations with the UK) Begins: 1979 Aug 2 Ends: 1990 Mar 23 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 8 Classification: Top Secret - Cab One Pages: 360
Per page: