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 201 - 225 of 3727

Per page:
File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
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
PREM19/2567 USA (Prime Minister's visit to Washington, July 1987) (Part 2) Begins: 1987 Jul 24 Ends: 1987 Nov 30 Date of release: Retained Classification: Temporarily retained by Department
PREM19/2579 Economic Policy (Inquiry into Barlow Clowes Group) Begins: 1988 Jun 13 Ends: 1988 Sep 30 Date of release: Retained Classification: Temporarily retained by Department
PREM19/2606 Commonwealth (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings (CHOGM), Kuala Lumpur, October 1989) (Part 14) Begins: 1988 Dec 14 Ends: 1989 Oct 12 Date of release: Retained Classification: Temporarily retained by Department
PREM19/2753 Japan (Prime Minister's visit to Japan, September 1989) (Part 3a) Begins: 1989 Apr 27 Ends: 1989 Sep 15 Date of release: Retained Classification: Temporarily retained by Department
PREM19/2796 Parliament (Boundary Commission reviews of Parliamentary constituencies in Wales and the UK) (Part 2) Begins: 1986 Jul 11 Ends: 1989 Jan 18 Date of release: Retained Classification: Temporarily retained by Department
PREM19/160 Defence (Nuclear release procedures; UK/US understandings on the use of nuclear weapons and bases) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 May 9 Ends: 1980 Mar 25 Date of release: Retained Classification: Unknown
PREM19/355 Royal Family (Duke of Windsor’s papers: allegations by Duc de Grantmesnil that they were stolen by secret agents) Begins: 1979 May 10 Ends: 1980 Jun 18 Date of release: Retained Classification: Unknown
PREM19/359 Security (Intelligence liaison) Begins: 1980 Jul 28 Ends: 1980 Aug 4 Date of release: Retained Classification: Unknown
PREM19/361 Security (Case of Miss Lamble) Begins: 1979 Dec 7 Ends: 1980 Jan 4 Date of release: Retained Classification: Unknown
PREM19/363 Security (Policy on interception) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Jun 7 Ends: 1980 Mar 19 Date of release: Retained Classification: Unknown
PREM19/364 Security (Policy on interception) (Part 2) Begins: 1980 Mar 21 Ends: 1980 Apr 11 Date of release: Retained Classification: Unknown
PREM19/372 Soviet Union (Political and propaganda use made by USSR of Moscow Olympic Games) Begins: 1980 Apr 22 Ends: 1980 Apr 26 Date of release: Retained Classification: Unknown
PREM19/607 Defence (Nuclear release procedures; understandings between the USA and UK on use of nuclear weapons and bases) (Part 2) Begins: 1980 Apr 29 Ends: 1981 Mar 9 Date of release: Retained Classification: Unknown
PREM19/787 Hong Kong (Intelligence operations) Begins: 1982 Sep 1 Ends: 1982 Sep 10 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/820 Italy (Anglo-Italian Summit, Rome, July 1982) Begins: 1982 Jun 18 Ends: 1982 Jul 6 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/1241 France (State visit to UK by President Mitterrand, October 1984) (Part 4) Begins: 1984 Mar 1 Ends: 1984 Nov 2 Date of release: Retained Classification: Temporarily retained by Department
PREM19/1260 Home affairs (Review of police conduct of Yorkshire Ripper (Peter Sutcliffe) case by HM Inspector of Constabulary, Lawrence Byford; transfer of Peter Sutcliffe to Broadmoor) Begins: 1980 Nov 25 Ends: 1984 Mar 26 Date of release: Retained Classification: Temporarily retained by Department
PREM19/1340 Parliament (Queen's speeches on prorogation and opening of Parliament; televising the State Opening) (Part 5) Begins: 1982 Oct 27 Ends: 1984 Oct 31 Date of release: Retained Classification: Temporarily retained by Department
PREM19/1367 Royal family (Relations between the media and members of the Royal Family; possible legal measures to prevent harassment) Begins: 1984 Jan 3 Ends: 1984 Jan 18 Date of release: Retained Classification: Closed for 47 years
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