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 26 - 50 of 3726

Per page:
File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
PREM19/1048 Grenada (US-led invasion) (Part 1) Begins: 1983 Mar 29 Ends: 1983 Oct 27 Date of release: 2013 Aug 1 Any docs withheld? 13 Classification: Top Secret
PREM19/1129 Security (Publication of book containing accounts of National Security Agency) Begins: 1982 Mar 14 Ends: 1983 May 5 Date of release: Retained Sec 3.4 Classification: Unknown
PREM19/1135 Security (Irish Republican Socialist Party) Begins: 1983 Oct 13 Ends: 1983 Nov 7 Date of release: Retained Sec 3.4 Classification: Unknown
PREM19/1136 Security (Case of Geoffrey Prime, former member of Government Communications Headquarters) Begins: 1982 Jun 3 Ends: 1983 Jun 30 Date of release: Retained Sec 3.4 Classification: Unknown
PREM19/1139 South Africa (Prime Minister's talk with Tiny Rowland, Chief Executive of Lonrho, about Namibia and Angola) Begins: 1982 Jan 29 Ends: 1982 Feb 25 Date of release: Retained Sec 3.4 Classification: Unknown
PREM19/1141 Sport (Invitation to Princess Anne to become President of British Olympic Association) Begins: 1983 Mar 4 Ends: 1983 Apr 12 Date of release: 2024 Jan 1 Classification: Unknown
PREM19/1170 Argentina (Falklands: sensitive briefing - defence after repossession) (Part 13) Begins: 1983 Mar 18 Ends: 1984 Jan 23 Date of release: Retained Sec 3.4 Classification: Unknown
PREM19/1183 Defence (Intelligence gathering operations) (Part 2) Begins: 1984 Oct 7 Ends: 1984 Dec 6 Date of release: Retained Sec 3.4 Classification: Unknown
PREM19/1189 Defence (Correspondence from Professor R.V. Jones) Begins: 1982 Jun 14 Ends: 1984 Sep 5 Date of release: Retained Sec 3.4 Classification: Unknown
PREM19/1235 Foreign policy (Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) assessments summaries produced by Sir Percy Cradock) Begins: 1983 Mar 16 Ends: 1984 Nov 1 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/1371 Security (Irish terrorist activity in Great Britain) (Part 1A) Begins: 1979 May 10 Ends: 1982 Aug 11 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/1372 Security (Irish terrorist activity in Great Britain; threat to Weston supermarkets) (Part 1B) Begins: 1982 Sep 6 Ends: 1984 Feb 10 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/1374 Security (Circumstances surrounding death of a Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) employee) Begins: 1984 Apr 4 Ends: 1984 Sep 26 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/1387 Security (Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ): changes in funding, status and staffing) (Part 1) Begins: 1981 Mar 10 Ends: 1984 Feb 9 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/1388 Security (Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ): changes in funding, status and staffing) (Part 2) Begins: 1984 Feb 6 Ends: 1984 Feb 29 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/1389 Security (Distribution of intelligence reports and assessments) Begins: 1979 May 14 Ends: 1984 Nov 14 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/1501 Foreign Policy (Prime Minister's visit to Egypt and Jordan, September 1985: policy and briefing) Begins: 1985 Jul 15 Ends: 1985 Sep 29 Date of release: Temporarily Retained
PREM19/1570 Middle East (Situation in the Middle East) (Part 12) Begins: 1984 Jan 5 Ends: 1985 May 31 Date of release: Temporarily retained
PREM19/1589 Oman (UK policy: relations with Oman) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 May 18 Ends: 1985 Jun 24 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30
PREM19/1606 Prime Minister (Radio profile of the Prime Minister by Hugo Young and Anne Sloman of BBC: discouragement of Civil Service participation) Begins: 1985 Jan 23 Ends: 1985 Jan 31 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30
PREM19/1607 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with Tony Christopher of the Inland Revenue Staff Federation) Begins: 1984 Dec 19 Ends: 1985 Jan 10 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30
PREM19/1608 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with Sir Douglas Hague on the future of Research Councils) Begins: 1984 Dec 20 Ends: 1985 Feb 6 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30
PREM19/1609 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meetings with Sean Hughes MP on the closure of Huntley and Palmer biscuit factory in Knowsley and Plessey Telecommunications plant in Huyton) Begins: 1983 Nov 10 Ends: 1985 Jul 25 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30
PREM19/1610 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with Frank Field MP on the proposed closure of Manchester Steel's Bidston works) Begins: 1985 May 9 Ends: 1985 Jun 18 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30
PREM19/1620 Security (Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ): changes in funding, status and staffing; unionisation) (Part 3) Begins: 1984 Mar 2 Ends: 1985 Apr 26 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30
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