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 251 - 275 of 3727

Per page:

File name	File title	Begins	Ends	Release date	Classification
PREM19/2704	Government Machinery (Monopolies and mergers) (Part 4)	Begins: 1989 Mar 8	Ends: 1989 Jul 21	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2706	Government Machinery (Rayner Scrutiny programme: promotion of efficiency and elimination of waste; value for money seminars; Next Steps initiative) (Part 29)	Begins: 1988 Dec 1	Ends: 1989 Apr 20	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2712	Government Machinery (The Central Office of Information (COI) and the future of the Information Services: Government advertising expenditure; repayment for services provided by the COI)	Begins: 1979 May 18	Ends: 1989 May 11	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2713	Government Machinery (Request for part of Property Services Agency, PSA Supplies, to trade under the name 'The Crown Suppliers': the future of The Crown Suppliers)	Begins: 1983 Sep 20	Ends: 1989 Nov 28	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2715	Government Machinery (Reviews of tourism and leisure policy) (Part 1)	Begins: 1983 May 13	Ends: 1989 Jun 16	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2716	Home Affairs (Sentencing policy: Criminal Justice Bill; draft Green Paper 'Punishment, Custody and the Community') (Part 3)	Begins: 1987 Mar 5	Ends: 1989 Oct 6	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2717	Home Affairs (Data protection: computer hacking) (Part 2)	Begins: 1987 Oct 12	Ends: 1989 May 17	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2718	Home Affairs (Government support for voluntary bodies) (Part 1)	Begins: 1985 Mar 11	Ends: 1989 Jul 31	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2721	Home Affairs (Policy towards the Prison Service: industrial action by the Prison Officers Association; private sector involvement in the remand system) (Part 4)	Begins: 1987 Nov 2	Ends: 1989 Jan 30	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2722	Home Affairs (Football hooliganism; Football Spectators Bill) (Part 7)	Begins: 1988 Jul 5	Ends: 1989 Jan 17	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2724	Home Affairs (Acid house parties)	Begins: 1989 Aug 22	Ends: 1989 Dec 5	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2726	Home Affairs (Sex discrimination)	Begins: 1985 Aug 6	Ends: 1989 Feb 27	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2735	Industrial Policy (Industrial relations law: Employment Bill; proposals for further reform of trade union law) (Part 14)	Begins: 1987 Oct 2	Ends: 1989 Mar 20	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2736	Industrial Policy (Information technology (IT): Government policy towards IT) (Part 5)	Begins: 1987 Feb 2	Ends: 1989 Mar 7	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2737	Industrial Policy (Research and development: review of international research and development programmes) (Part 6)	Begins: 1989 Jan 17	Ends: 1989 Sep 7	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2738	Industrial Policy (Research and development, including European Community framework programme for research and development) (Part 7)	Begins: 1989 Sep 1	Ends: 1989 Dec 28	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2741	Industrial Policy (Short Brothers Plc: corporate plan and privatisation prospects) (Part 2)	Begins: 1986 Jun 13	Ends: 1989 Mar 23	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2742	Industrial Policy (Policy towards employee involvement: profit sharing and share options)	Begins: 1979 Sep 25	Ends: 1989 Oct 23	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2743	Industrial Policy (Industrial relations law: strikes in essential services; industrial disputes) (Part 15)	Begins: 1989 May 23	Ends: 1989 Aug 23	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2746	Iraq (Internal situation - Iran/Iraq peace talks; future of Royal Navy deployments in the Gulf) (Part 10)	Begins: 1989 Jan 25	Ends: 1989 Sep 21	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2747	Ireland (Review of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1976: prevention of terrorism legislation)	Begins: 1980 Jan 31	Ends: 1989 Jan 17	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2750	Japan (UK/Japanese relations: Nissan (UK) exports to Europe; UK-Japan 2000 Group) (Part 8)	Begins: 1988 Jul 1	Ends: 1989 Aug 24	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2751	Japan (Lunches at Chequers in honour of Prince Naruhito (1984) and Prince Fumihito (1989))	Begins: 1983 Dec 20	Ends: 1989 Apr 24	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2752	Japan (Prime Minister's visit to Japan, September 1989) (Part 3b)	Begins: 1989 Sep 18	Ends: 1989 Nov 10	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
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

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