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 101 - 125 of 3727

Per page:
File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
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
PREM19/1170 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
PREM19/132 Zambia (Policy) Begins: 1979 Jul 13 Ends: 1979 Jul 23 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/586 Security (Case of Howard Marks) Begins: 1979 Jul 4 Ends: 1981 Nov 24 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/590 Security (Policy on interception) (Part 3) Begins: 1980 Apr 18 Ends: 1981 Oct 9 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/684 Defence (Special project) Begins: 1980 May 9 Ends: 1982 Nov 29 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/686 Defence (Intelligence gathering operations) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 May 8 Ends: 1982 Oct 6 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/819 Ireland (Taoiseach Charles Haughey's advice to SDLP's John Hume in upcoming Northern Ireland election) Begins: 1982 Apr 30 Ends: 1982 May 4 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/870 Poland (Intelligence) Begins: 1982 Jan 8 Ends: 1982 Feb 22 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/899 Royal family (Civil List) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Jun 7 Ends: 1982 Mar 23 Date of release: Retained Classification: Unknown
PREM19/1013 Elections (Procedure for General Elections: actions to be taken by Prime Minister's Office; allocation of official residences; questions of procedure for Ministers; Ministerial travel; Queen's speech on opening of Parliament) Begins: 1970 Aug 4 Ends: 1982 Jul 19 Date of release: Retained 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
PREM19/2058 Defence (Policy on biological and chemical weapons) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Jun 1 Ends: 1988 Dec 23 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/2059 Defence (Defence sales) (Part 8) Begins: 1987 Jan 8 Ends: 1987 Jul 23 Date of release: Retained Classification: Temporarily retained by Department
PREM19/2060 Defence (Defence sales) (Part 9) Begins: 1987 Aug 3 Ends: 1988 Jan 31 Date of release: Retained Classification: Temporarily retained by Department
PREM19/2061 Defence (Defence sales) (Part 10) Begins: 1988 Feb 3 Ends: 1988 Jul 29 Date of release: Retained Classification: Temporarily retained by Department
PREM19/2062 Defence (Future role of SAS) (Part 1) Begins: 1980 Dec 1 Ends: 1987 Apr 8 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
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