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 276 - 300 of 3727

Per page:

File name	File title	Begins	Ends	Release date	Any docs withheld?	Classification	Pages
PREM19/3837	Jordan (Illness of King Hussein) (Part 1)	Begins: 1984 Jan 3	Ends: 1992 Oct 21	Date of release: 2017 Dec 29	Any docs withheld? 2	Classification: Top Secret	Pages: 26
PREM19/3836	Japan (Visit to the UK by Japanese Prime Ministers, Toshiki Kaifu and Kiichi Miyazawa) (Part 3)	Begins: 1990 Mar 1	Ends: 1992 Jul 21	Date of release: 2017 Dec 29		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 69
PREM19/3835	Japan (Visits to the UK by Japanese Ministers for International Trade and Industry)	Begins: 1979 May 8	Ends: 1992 Dec 24	Date of release: 2017 Dec 29		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 173
PREM19/3834	Japan (Visits to the UK by Japanese Ministers)	Begins: 1981 May 26	Ends: 1992 May 15	Date of release: 2017 Dec 29		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 103
PREM19/3830	Jamaica (Visit to the UK by Michael Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica, October 1979)	Begins: 1979 Jun 19	Ends: 1992 Jun 25	Date of release: 2017 Dec 29		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 39
PREM19/3829	Israel (Visits to the UK by Israeli Prime Ministers, Yitzhak Shamir and Yitzhak Rabin) (Part 2)	Begins: 1990 Oct 1	Ends: 1992 Dec 16	Date of release: 2017 Dec 29	Any docs withheld? 1	Classification: Confidential	Pages: 88
PREM19/3828	Israel (Internal situation: UK/Israel relations) (Part 2)	Begins: 1986 Feb 4	Ends: 1992 Jul 23	Date of release: 2017 Dec 29	Any docs withheld? 4	Classification: Secret	Pages: 426
PREM19/3827	Israel (Visits to the UK by Israeli Foreign Ministers)	Begins: 1986 Sep 15	Ends: 1992 Sep 8	Date of release: 2017 Dec 29	Any docs withheld? 8	Classification: Secret	Pages: 179
PREM19/3825	Ireland (Prime Minister's visits to Northern Ireland) (Part 6)	Begins: 1990 Oct 1	Ends: 1992 Feb 6	Date of release: 2028		Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/3824	Ireland (Brian Nelson: public interest issues and protection of intelligence sources and methods)	Begins: 1990 Sep 1	Ends: 1992 Dec 14	Date of release: Temporarily Retained by Department
PREM19/3815	Iraq (Exports to Iraq (Scott Inquiry)) (Part 4)	Begins: 1990 Oct 18	Ends: 1992 Nov 19	Date of release: Retained under Sec 3.4 (reconsideration in 2021)
PREM19/3810	Industrial Policy (Short Brothers plc: sale to Bombardier; launch aid application for Learjet 45 project) (Part 3)	Begins: 1989 Apr 18	Ends: 1992 Dec 4	Date of release: 2017 Dec 29		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 93
PREM19/3809	Industrial Policy (Microelectronics industry: Inmos Ltd (INMOS)) (Part 3)	Begins: 1984 Apr 20	Ends: 1992 Dec 7	Date of release: Temporarily Retained by Department
PREM19/3808	Industrial Policy (Prime Minister's meetings with the Trades Union Congress (TUC) on policy for inner cities (September 1981) and with the Scottish TUC (September 1982): consultations with trade unions) (Part 3)	Begins: 1981 Aug 24	Ends: 1992 Apr 16	Date of release: 2017 Dec 29		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 122
PREM19/3806	Industrial Policy (Ports: national dock strike in 1989; privatisation of Trust Ports) (Part 6)	Begins: 1989 Jun 1	Ends: 1992 Mar 10	Date of release: 2017 Dec 29		Classification: Secret	Pages: 310
PREM19/3805	Industrial Policy (Future of Rover Group) (Part 17)	Begins: 1990 Apr 1	Ends: 1992 Mar 11	Date of release: Temporarily Retained by Department
PREM19/3804	Industrial Policy (British Technology Group (BTG): compendium; privatisation) (Part 3)	Begins: 1989 Feb 1	Ends: 1992 Mar 10	Date of release: 2017 Dec 29		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 129
PREM19/3803	India (Visits of Indian Ministers of Finance: Pranab Mukherjee's meeting with the Prime Minister, September 1982) (Part 1)	Begins: 1982 Aug 19	Ends: 1992 Sep 1	Date of release: 2017 Dec 29	Any docs withheld? 2	Classification: Confidential	Pages: 22
PREM19/3802	Housing (Building societies: Green Paper 'Building Societies: A New Framework'; Building Societies Bill; mortgage rates) (Part 2)	Begins: 1984 Jul 2	Ends: 1992 Dec 10	Date of release: 2017 Dec 29		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 210
PREM19/3798	Hong Kong (Guangdong nuclear power station project at Daya Bay, China: meetings with Lord Kadoorie, Chairman of China Light and Power Company (CLP)) (Part 4)	Begins: 1986 Jan 3	Ends: 1992 Sep 8	Date of release: 2017 Dec 29	Any docs withheld? 6	Classification: Secret	Pages: 193
PREM19/3797	Honduras (Visits to the UK by the Honduran Foreign Minister, Dr Paz Barnica: proposed visit of President Callejas)	Begins: 1983 Sep 21	Ends: 1992 Jan 21	Date of release: 2017 Dec 29		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 14
PREM19/3795	Home Affairs (The right of silence)	Begins: 1984 Sep 23	Ends: 1992 Jan 10	Date of release: 2017 Dec 29		Classification: Secret	Pages: 72
PREM19/3794	Home Affairs (Review of restrictions on shopping hours and Sunday trading: Shops Bill 1986; review of licensing hours) (Part 2)	Begins: 1986 Feb 12	Ends: 1992 Jan 30	Date of release: 2017 Dec 29	Any docs withheld? 7	Classification: Confidential	Pages: 280
PREM19/3793	Home Affairs (Race relations: grants under section 11 of the Local Government Act 1966; Government action on racial discrimination) (Part 2)	Begins: 1989 Jun 5	Ends: 1992 Dec 11	Date of release: 2017 Dec 29		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 253
PREM19/3791	Home Affairs (Pay of magistrates' courts staff: management of the Magistrates' Courts Service) (Part 2)	Begins: 1980 Nov 24	Ends: 1992 Feb 21	Date of release: 2017 Dec 29		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 214

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