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 76 - 100 of 3727

Per page:
File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
PREM19/2032 Cambodia (Internal situation: derecognition of Pol Pot regime; Prince Sihanouk) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Oct 16 Ends: 1988 Nov 10 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21
PREM19/2033 Cameroon (UK/Cameroon relations) (Part 1) Begins: 1980 Apr 1 Ends: 1988 Mar 25 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Any docs withheld? 1
PREM19/2035 Chad (Internal situation) Begins: 1981 Nov 12 Ends: 1987 Oct 28 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21
PREM19/2036 China (UK/Chinese relations) (Part 4) Begins: 1986 Jun 2 Ends: 1987 Jun 19 Date of release: 2020 Dec 30
PREM19/2038 Civil Service (Contracts of employment; possible legislation to enable civil servants to be laid off without pay; Civil Service nationality rules; responsibility for discipline in the Civil Service) Begins: 1980 Jun 27 Ends: 1987 Jul 7 Date of release: 2015 Dec 30
PREM19/2042 Civil Service (Introduction of new technology: Project Gemstione, electronic mail for Private Offices) (Part 2) Begins: 1986 Jul 17 Ends: 1988 Mar 16 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Any docs withheld? 1
PREM19/2046 Commonwealth (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), Vancouver, October 1987) (Part 11) Begins: 1986 Sep 4 Ends: 1987 Oct 8 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21
PREM19/2047 Commonwealth (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), Vancouver, October 1987) (Part 12) Begins: 1987 Oct 9 Ends: 1987 Oct 28 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21
PREM19/2048 Commonwealth (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), Vancouver, October 1987) (Part 13) Begins: 1987 Nov 3 Ends: 1987 Dec 9 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21
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
PREM19/2064 Defence (Future UK defence policy; merchant shipping and defence needs; Defence White Paper) (Part 3) Begins: 1987 Nov 10 Ends: 1988 Nov 29 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21
PREM19/2065 Defence (UK strategic nuclear deterrent) (Part 7) Begins: 1985 Feb 1 Ends: 1987 Jun 30 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/2066 Defence (Intelligence gathering operations) (Part 3) Begins: 1985 Jan 9 Ends: 1987 Jan 21 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/2067 Defence (Military communications satellite) Begins: 1981 Oct 1 Ends: 1988 Sep 30 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2068 Defence (Military uses of laser technology in space: United States Strategic Defence Initiative) (Part 4) Begins: 1985 Dec 4 Ends: 1987 Oct 2 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/2069 Defence (Nuclear release procedures) (Part 4) Begins: 1983 Mar 1 Ends: 1987 Oct 30 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/2071 Defence (Procurement of weapon systems: European Fighter Aircraft (EFA); Chieftain tank replacement;) (Part 6) Begins: 1988 Apr 1 Ends: 1988 Oct 26 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21
PREM19/2072 Defence (Royal Navy deployments) Begins: 1980 Jan 18 Ends: 1987 Dec 30 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21
PREM19/2073 Defence (Defence budget) (Part 12) Begins: 1986 Mar 14 Ends: 1987 May 8 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21
PREM19/2074 Defence (Zircon satellite project) (Part 1) Begins: 1983 Apr 27 Ends: 1987 Feb 27 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/2075 Disasters (Sinking of Townsend Thoresen ferry Herald of Free Enterprise at Zeebrugge, 6 March 1987) Begins: 1987 Mar 6 Ends: 1988 Feb 9 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Any docs withheld? 6
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