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 301 - 325 of 3727

Per page:

File name	File title	Begins	Ends	Release date	Any docs withheld?	Classification	Pages
PREM19/4722	Home Affairs (Data protection: computer hacking) (Part 3)	Begins: 1989 Jul 3	Ends: 1994 Dec 20	Date of release: 2019 Feb 6
PREM19/1762	France (Visits to UK by President Mitterrand) (Part 5)	Begins: 1985 Oct 16	Ends: 1986 Nov 28	Date of release: 2019 Feb 6	Any docs withheld? 7	Classification: Top Secret	Pages: 239
PREM19/4570	Austria (UK/Austrian relations: internal situation) (Part 2)	Begins: 1990 Jun 7	Ends: 1994 Dec 22	Date of release: 2019 Feb 6
PREM19/1020	European policy (European Community budget) (Part 19)	Begins: 1982 Nov 4	Ends: 1983 Jan 31	Date of release: 2019 Jan 1		Classification: Unknown
PREM19/1021	European policy (European Community budget) (Part 20)	Begins: 1983 Feb 2	Ends: 1983 Jun 17	Date of release: 2019 Jan 1		Classification: Unknown
PREM19/1022	European policy (European Community budget) (Part 21)	Begins: 1983 Jun 20	Ends: 1983 Oct 31	Date of release: 2019 Jan 1		Classification: Unknown
PREM19/1682	China (Sino-British relations) (Part 3)	Begins: 1985 Jun 1	Ends: 1986 Jun 29	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/1815	Ireland (Situation in Northern Ireland) (Part 21)	Begins: 1986 Jul 2	Ends: 1986 Oct 31	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/2230	Hong Kong (Future of Hong Kong) (Part 19)	Begins: 1986 Nov 18	Ends: 1987 Sep 9	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/2271	Ireland (Meetings with the Taoiseach: Anglo-Irish Summits; Anglo-Irish relations) (Part 16)	Begins: 1986 May 8	Ends: 1987 Feb 1	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/2277	Ireland (Situation in Northern Ireland: force levels) (Part 23)	Begins: 1987 Nov 1	Ends: 1988 Mar 31	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/2359	Nationalised Industries (Shipbuilding policy) (Part 14)	Begins: 1988 Apr 5	Ends: 1988 Sep 30	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/2360	Nationalised Industries (Shipbuilding: Hill-Norton Committee Report on Hull Forms for Warships ('short fat ships')) (Part 2)	Begins: 1986 Oct 14	Ends: 1988 Jul 27	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/2512	Security (Sunday Times articles on the death of Stephen Ward and his association with M15 at the time of the Profumo affair: book by Phillip Knightley and Caroline Kennedy 'An Affair of State')	Begins: 1982 Nov 29	Ends: 1982 Nov 29	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/2556	Transport (British Rail fares: industrial action by the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) and the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF); possible line closures; British Rail finances)	Begins: 1986 Oct 9	Ends: 1988 Sep 29	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/2566	USA (Prime Minister's visit to Washington, July 1987) (Part 1)	Begins: 1987 Jun 12	Ends: 1987 Jul 23	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/2568	USA (UK/USA relations)	Begins: 1986 Jun 1	Ends: 1987 Jun 26	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/2569	USA (Visit to UK by President Reagan, June 1988)	Begins: 1984 Jun 1	Ends: 1988 Sep 23	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4758	Indonesia (UK/Indonesia relations: internal situation) (Part 1)	Begins: 1979 May 1	Ends: 1994 Dec 31	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4490	Turkey (Internal situation: European aid to Turkey) (Part 1)	Begins: 1979 May 10	Ends: 1993 Aug 28	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4587	Official Cars (Use of official cars) (Part 1)	Begins: 1979 May 10	Ends: 1994 Dec 23	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 195
PREM19/4330	NATO (Prime Minister's meetings with the Supreme Allied Commander Europe) (SACEUR)	Begins: 1979 May 23	Ends: 1993 Oct 27	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4619	Dominica (UK/Dominica relations: internal situation) (Part 1)	Begins: 1979 Jun 14	Ends: 1994 Feb 18	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4624	Downing Street (Use of RACAL speech privacy equipment during PM trips abroad: secure communications between No.10 and PM on regional tours; direct fax links between Whitehall and No 10; use of secure telegram systems with PM's aircraft)	Begins: 1979 Jun 21	Ends: 1994 Mar 15	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4439	Seychelles (UK/Seychelles relations: internal situation) (Part 1)	Begins: 1979 Jun 28	Ends: 1993 Sep 9	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28

Per page: