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 176 - 200 of 3727

Per page:
File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
PREM19/2490 Security (Intelligence Co-ordinator in the Cabinet Office: proposed appointment of the Sir Anthony Duff and his successors) Begins: 1980 Jun 18 Ends: 1988 Oct 17 Date of release: Retained Classification: Temporarily retained by Department
PREM19/2491 Security (Terrorist activity and extremism in Great Britain) (Part 3) Begins: 1986 Jun 3 Ends: 1987 Sep 29 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/2492 Security (Terrorist activity and extremism in Great Britain, including threat to UK nuclear facilities and nuclear materials) (Part 4) Begins: 1987 Oct 19 Ends: 1988 Sep 30 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/2493 Security (Links between Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and other terrorist organisations: People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine operations in London) Begins: 1979 Sep 28 Ends: 1988 Mar 17 Date of release: Retained Classification: Temporarily retained by Department
PREM19/2494 Security (Ministerial personal protection: security arrangements for overnight parking of Ministers' cars: VIP security) Begins: 1979 Aug 28 Ends: 1987 Jun 12 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/2495 Security (Miscellaneous leaks and security breaches) (Part 1) Begins: 1985 Mar 26 Ends: 1987 Jun 30 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/2496 Security (Miscellaneous leaks and security breaches) (Part 2) Begins: 1987 Jul 2 Ends: 1988 Dec 22 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/2497 Security (Correspondence with Members of Parliament) Begins: 1988 Apr 12 Ends: 1988 Apr 22 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/2498 Security (Threat of unauthorised disclosure by former employee of Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ)) Begins: 1987 Feb 6 Ends: 1987 Mar 20 Date of release: Retained Classification: Temporarily retained by Department
PREM19/2499 Security (RAF fixed telecommunications system) Begins: 1988 Mar 29 Ends: 1988 Jul 21 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/2500 Security (Reform of Official Secrets Act: proposed Protection of Official Information Bill; enforcing the duty of confidentiality) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 May 4 Ends: 1987 Oct 30 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/2501 Security (White Paper on Reform of Section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911: proposed Protection of Official Information Bill; enforcing the duty of confidentiality) (Part 2) Begins: 1987 Nov 3 Ends: 1988 Jul 19 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/2502 Security (Security and protection of the Prime Minister) (Part 2) Begins: 1986 Feb 3 Ends: 1987 Jan 26 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/2503 Security (Case of Geoffrey Arthur Prime) Begins: 1983 Jul 1 Ends: 1987 Aug 11 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/2512 Security (Sunday Times articles on the death of Stephen Ward and his association with M15 at the time of the Profumo affair: book by Phillip Knightley and Caroline Kennedy 'An Affair of State') Begins: 1982 Nov 29 Ends: 1982 Nov 29 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/2513 Security (Case of Michael Bettaney and the ensuing review of the Security Service) Begins: 1986 Jun 2 Ends: 1988 Nov 8 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/2514 Security (Allegations against the Security Service) Begins: 1977 Jul 16 Ends: 1987 Mar 18 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/2515 Security (The Hijacking Declaration of the Bonn Summit, July 1978: prevention of international terrorist activity) (Part 5) Begins: 1986 Jun 2 Ends: 1988 May 25 Date of release: Retained Classification: Temporarily retained by Department
PREM19/2516 Security (Lord and Lady Rothschild) Begins: 1987 Jun 8 Ends: 1987 Jul 17 Date of release: Retained Classification: Temporarily retained by Department
PREM19/2533 Soviet Union (Soviet intentions towards Iran) Begins: 1980 Apr 16 Ends: 1987 Sep 30 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/2536 Soviet Union (Soviet visa applications) Begins: 1979 Jun 13 Ends: 1987 Jan 12 Date of release: Retained Classification: Temporarily retained by Department
PREM19/2543 Soviet Union (Relations between the Soviet Union and India) Begins: 1987 Jun 10 Ends: 1987 Jun 17 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/2548 Syria (Internal situation: military capability; UK/Syrian relations) Begins: 1980 Mar 14 Ends: 1988 Oct 25 Date of release: Retained Classification: Temporarily retained by Department
PREM19/2549 Syria (Internal situation: UK/Syrian relations; Syrian involvement in the Hindawi affair and other terrorist activities; diplomatic and commercial measures by UK, USA, Canada, and European Community states) Begins: 1979 May 7 Ends: 1987 Jul 27 Date of release: Retained Classification: Temporarily retained by Department
PREM19/2552 Trade (UK's international trade policies: non-tariff barriers and restraints on imports; consideration of export problems; recycling of OPEC surpluses) (Part 5) Begins: 1985 Jul 1 Ends: 1987 Jan 26 Date of release: Retained Classification: Temporarily retained by Department
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