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
PREM19/4758 Indonesia (UK/Indonesia relations: internal situation) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 May 1 Ends: 1994 Dec 31 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4755 Iceland (UK/Iceland relations: internal situations) (Part 1) Begins: 1980 Feb 21 Ends: 1994 Feb 17 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4737 Home Affairs (Juvenile offenders) (Part 1) Begins: 1980 Jun 2 Ends: 1994 Jan 31 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4734 Home Afffairs (Homosexual rights in Great Britain and Europe) (Part 1) Begins: 1984 May 21 Ends: 1994 Dec 15 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4732 Home Affairs (Behaviour of British football fans abroad: football hooliganism; Football Spectators Bill; Taylor Report on the Hillsborough Stadium Disaster) (Part 9) Begins: 1990 Feb 1 Ends: 1994 Jun 23 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4731 Home Affairs (The Fire Service: fire safety legislation report) (Part 1) Begins: 1988 May 10 Ends: 1994 Dec 22 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4722 Home Affairs (Data protection: computer hacking) (Part 3) Begins: 1989 Jul 3 Ends: 1994 Dec 20 Date of release: 2019 Feb 6
PREM19/4711 Home Affairs (30-year rule retentions) Begins: 1979 Nov 26 Ends: 1994 Feb 24 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4707 Haiti (UK/Haiti relations: internal situation) (Part 1) Begins: 1986 Feb 7 Ends: 1994 Aug 31 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4706 Grenada (UK/Grenada relations: internal situation; includes meetings with the government of Grenada) (Part 3) Begins: 1984 Jan 3 Ends: 1994 Oct 17 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4682 Gambia (UK/Gambia relations: internal situation) (Part 1) Begins: 1981 Jul 30 Ends: 1994 Aug 1 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4676 Foreign Poicy (United Nations Law of the Sea Convention) (UNLOSC) (Part 3) Begins: 1985 Jan 21 Ends: 1994 Jul 12 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4669 Foreign Policy (The British Council) (Part 2) Begins: 1987 Aug 5 Ends: 1994 Aug 22 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4662 European Policy (The Economic and Social Committee of the EEC) (Part 2) Begins: 1990 Jan 11 Ends: 1994 Jul 18 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4634 Environmental Affairs (Contacts with Sir Crispin Tickell, environmental adviser) (Part 1) Begins: 1990 Jun 27 Ends: 1994 Nov 9 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4628 Energy (Gas and electricity) (Part 1) Begins: 1984 Aug 6 Ends: 1994 Jun 5 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4625 El Salvador (Internal situation: UK/El Salvador relations) (Part 2) Begins: 1990 Feb 15 Ends: 1994 Apr 29 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4624 Downing Street (Use of RACAL speech privacy equipment during PM trips abroad: secure communications between No.10 and PM on regional tours; direct fax links between Whitehall and No 10; use of secure telegram systems with PM's aircraft) Begins: 1979 Jun 21 Ends: 1994 Mar 15 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4621 Downing Street (Information technology) (Part 4) Begins: 1986 Jul 18 Ends: 1994 Nov 8 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4619 Dominica (UK/Dominica relations: internal situation) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Jun 14 Ends: 1994 Feb 18 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4617 Disasters (Whitehall responses to national disasters: inquiries into major incidents) (Part 1) Begins: 1985 Jun 24 Ends: 1994 Dec 22 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4613 Defence (US bases in the UK) (Part 1) Begins: 1980 Jun 18 Ends: 1994 Dec 20 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4600 Cyprus (United Nations forces in Cyprus) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Jun 1 Ends: 1994 Jun 8 Date of release: 2019 Feb 6
PREM19/4598 Cuba (UK/Cuban relations) (Part 1) Begins: 1980 Jan 25 Ends: 1994 Aug 22 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4597 Costa Rica (UK/Costa Rican relations) (Part 1) Begins: 1980 May 5 Ends: 1994 Feb 7 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
Per page: