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 51 - 75 of 3727

Per page:
File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
PREM19/86 Israel (Farewell call by Israeli Ambassador, July 1979) Begins: 1979 Jul 5 Ends: 1979 Jul 24 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 18
PREM19/87 Italy (Italian PM’s visits to UK) (?Part 1) [possible filing error - Part 2 of this file has no clear Part 1] Begins: 1979 Jun 1 Ends: 1979 Jul 16 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 104
PREM19/88 Italy (MT’s visits to Italy; Anglo-Italian Summits) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Sep 20 Ends: 1979 Oct 8 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 101
PREM19/89 Legal procedure (Authority to order drafting of Bills) Begins: 1979 May 17 Ends: 1979 May 18 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 5
PREM19/90 Local government (Relations with central government, organisation & finance) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 May 10 Ends: 1979 Sep 18 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 228
PREM19/93 Ministers (Ministers assess position they inherited on taking office) Begins: 1979 May 9 Ends: 1979 May 11 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 52
PREM19/95 National Health Service (Doctors' and Dentists' pay) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 May 4 Ends: 1979 Jul 27 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 242
PREM19/96 Nationalized industries (Shipbuilding) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 May 4 Ends: 1979 Nov 29 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 121
PREM19/97 Nationalized industries (Steel) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Jun 1 Ends: 1979 Nov 12 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 133
PREM19/98 Nationalized industries (British Rail - cutback in fuel supplies) Begins: 1979 Jun 1 Ends: 1979 Jun 7 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 15
PREM19/99 Pakistan (Sale of cargo ships to Pakistan by British Shipbuilders) Begins: 1979 Jul 27 Ends: 1979 Aug 23 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 15
PREM19/100 Parliament (Legislative programme) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 May 5 Ends: 1979 Jul 6 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 127
PREM19/102 Prime Minister (Meeting with Cardinal Hume, Northern Ireland May 1979) Begins: 1979 May 7 Ends: 1979 May 29 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 34
PREM19/104 Prime Minister (MT's visits to Departments & possible regional visits) Begins: 1979 May 8 Ends: 1979 Sep 25 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 193
PREM19/105 Regional policy (Review of policy, creation of Enterprize Zones) Begins: 1979 May 24 Ends: 1979 Nov 5 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 163
PREM19/109 Rhodesia (Situation in) (Part 4) Begins: 1979 Jul 31 Ends: 1979 Aug 9 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 226
PREM19/119 Security (Robin Cook's Bill on the Security Service) Begins: 1979 Nov 29 Ends: 1979 Dec 17 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 17
PREM19/121 Social services (Benefits) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Jun 19 Ends: 1979 Dec 20 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 158
PREM19/122 South Africa (Plessey Radar contract - poss breach UN embargo) Begins: 1979 Aug 1 Ends: 1979 Sep 10 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 42
PREM19/123 South Korea (Call on MT by South Korean Presidential envoy) Begins: 1979 May 28 Ends: 1979 Jun 28 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 26
PREM19/124 Soviet Union (MT's stopover in Moscow, en route to Tokyo G7 Summit) Begins: 1979 Jun 22 Ends: 1979 Jul 17 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 57
PREM19/125 Transport (Consumers & nationalized transport industries) Begins: 1979 Jun 7 Ends: 1979 Jul 3 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 17
PREM19/126 United States (President Carter's energy policy) Begins: 1979 Jul 6 Ends: 1979 Dec 17 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 70
PREM19/128 Vatican (Possible papal visit to Ireland, north & south) Begins: 1979 Jul 10 Ends: 1979 Oct 1 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Any docs withheld? 1 Classification: Confidential Pages: 67
PREM19/131 Zaire (Call on MT by Foreign Minister of) Begins: 1979 Nov 11 Ends: 1979 Nov 13 Date of release: 2009 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 23
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