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 3551 - 3575 of 3727

Per page:
File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
PREM19/4165 Germany (German foreign policy) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Jul 1 Ends: 1993 Jun 24 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4818 Luxembourg (UK/Luxembourg relations: internal situation) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Jul 1 Ends: 1994 Oct 6 Date of release: 2019 Feb 6
PREM19/4873 Parliament (The Speaker's overseas travel plans) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Jul 31 Ends: 1994 Mar 24 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4574 Belgium (UK/Belgian relations: internal situation) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Oct 12 Ends: 1994 Jun 6 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4361 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meetings with the Board of Deputies of British Jews) Begins: 1979 Oct 12 Ends: 1993 Mar 25 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4335 Pakistan (Internal situation: military aid to Pakistan; death of President Zia) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Oct 17 Ends: 1993 Jul 15 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4907 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meetings and correspondence with President of the National Farmers' Union and National Farmers' Union of Scotland) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Nov 2 Ends: 1994 Feb 4 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4711 Home Affairs (30-year rule retentions) Begins: 1979 Nov 26 Ends: 1994 Feb 24 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4530 Civil Service (Civil servants contacts with members of the opposition and members of parliament) (Part 1) Begins: 1980 Jan 24 Ends: 1994 Apr 21 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4343 Parliament (Request by the Opposition for increase in financial allowances for Opposition Parties) (Part 1) Begins: 1980 Jan 25 Ends: 1993 Oct 28 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4598 Cuba (UK/Cuban relations) (Part 1) Begins: 1980 Jan 25 Ends: 1994 Aug 22 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4549 Education (Financing of student unions) Begins: 1980 Feb 4 Ends: 1994 Feb 23 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4755 Iceland (UK/Iceland relations: internal situations) (Part 1) Begins: 1980 Feb 21 Ends: 1994 Feb 17 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4807 Lesotho (UK/ Lesotho relations: internal situation; aid to Lesotho) Begins: 1980 Mar 1 Ends: 1994 Jun 17 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4860 NATO (Call on the Prime Minister by the Chairman of NATO) Begins: 1980 Mar 1 Ends: 1994 May 18 Date of release: 2019 Feb 6
PREM19/4870 Papua New Guinea (Relations) (Part 1) Begins: 1980 Mar 21 Ends: 1994 Dec 30 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4850 National Health (Policy on smoking and health: tobacco advertising) Begins: 1980 Apr 28 Ends: 1994 May 31 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4597 Costa Rica (UK/Costa Rican relations) (Part 1) Begins: 1980 May 5 Ends: 1994 Feb 7 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4737 Home Affairs (Juvenile offenders) (Part 1) Begins: 1980 Jun 2 Ends: 1994 Jan 31 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4613 Defence (US bases in the UK) (Part 1) Begins: 1980 Jun 18 Ends: 1994 Dec 20 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4339 Parliament (Remuneration of Junior Ministers in the House of Lords) (Part 1) Begins: 1980 Jul 7 Ends: 1993 May 21 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4489 Tuvalu (UK/Tuvalu relations: internal situation; includes visits of Tuvalu Prime Ministers, Mr Toaripi Lauti, Dr Tomasi Puapua, and Mr Bikenibeu Paeniu) Begins: 1980 Jul 9 Ends: 1993 Dec 14 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4502 Vanuatu (UK/Vanuatu relations: internal situation) (Part 1) Begins: 1980 Jul 29 Ends: 1993 Apr 27 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4858 NATO (Appointment of Secretary General of NATO) (Part 1) Begins: 1980 Sep 1 Ends: 1994 Jun 1 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4337 Parliament (The Unemployment Debate: recall of Parliament) (Part 1) Begins: 1980 Sep 10 Ends: 1993 Jul 29 Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
Per page: