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 226 - 250 of 3727

Per page:
File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
PREM19/2641 Economic Policy (G7 Summit - Paris, July 1989) (Part 29) Begins: 1989 Aug 1 Ends: 1989 Sep 4 Date of release: 2019 Apr 16
PREM19/2644 Education (General policy on education) (Part 21) Begins: 1989 Apr 3 Ends: 1989 Jun 30 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2645 Education (General policy on education) (Part 22) Begins: 1989 Jul 3 Ends: 1989 Dec 19 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2646 Education (Nursery education of children under 5) Begins: 1979 Dec 6 Ends: 1989 Apr 17 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2647 Education (The Open College) Begins: 1987 Aug 21 Ends: 1989 Mar 6 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2649 Education (Violence and discipline in schools) Begins: 1987 Nov 30 Ends: 1989 Mar 13 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2663 European Policy (European Community budget: developments in the European Community) (Part 42) Begins: 1989 Jun 1 Ends: 1989 Sep 29 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2664 European Policy (European Community budget: developments in the European Community) (Part 43) Begins: 1989 Oct 2 Ends: 1989 Nov 30 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2667 European Policy (European Council meeting, Madrid, June 1989) (Part 34) Begins: 1989 Jun 27 Ends: 1989 Jul 17 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2668 European Policy (European Council meeting, Strasbourg, December 1989) (Part 35) Begins: 1989 Nov 3 Ends: 1989 Dec 11 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2669 European Policy (European Council meeting, Strasbourg, December 1989) (Part 36) Begins: 1989 Dec 12 Ends: 1989 Dec 15 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2671 European Policy (Proposals for a common format for the passports of European Community member states: abolition of frontiers formalities within the European Community) Begins: 1980 Apr 14 Ends: 1989 Mar 23 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2672 European Policy (Meeting of European Community leaders to discuss the situation in Eastern Europe, Paris, 18 November 1989) Begins: 1989 Nov 13 Ends: 1989 Nov 30 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2677 Food (Food safety) (Part 1) Begins: 1989 Jan 30 Ends: 1989 Mar 30 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2678 Food (Food safety) (Part 2) Begins: 1989 Apr 3 Ends: 1989 Jun 30 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2680 Foreign Policy (Allegations concerning war criminals: Simon Weisenthal Center; War Crimes Inquiry) (Part 1) Begins: 1986 Oct 22 Ends: 1989 Jun 29 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2681 Foreign Policy (Allegations concerning war criminals: War Crimes Inquiry) (Part 2) Begins: 1989 Jun 30 Ends: 1989 Dec 22 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2688 Foreign Policy (Consular Fees (Amendment) Bill: increases in consular fees) Begins: 1979 Jul 10 Ends: 1989 Mar 31 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2689 Foreign Policy (Policy towards bilateral summits) Begins: 1988 Mar 28 Ends: 1989 Apr 18 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2696 Germany (Internal situation in East Germany: question of German reunification) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Oct 1 Ends: 1989 Dec 31 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2699 Government Buildings (Opening of the Cabinet War Rooms to the public, April 1984) Begins: 1981 May 29 Ends: 1989 Mar 21 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2700 Government Buildings (Purchase of government accommodation in the Whitehall area) Begins: 1983 Jul 23 Ends: 1989 Sep 26 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2701 Government Machinery (Advisory Council for Applied Research and Development (ACARD)) (Part 5) Begins: 1987 Jan 2 Ends: 1989 May 31 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2702 Government Machinery (Review of administrative forms) (Part 2) Begins: 1986 Nov 3 Ends: 1989 Dec 19 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2703 Government Machinery (Monopolies and mergers) (Part 3) Begins: 1988 Mar 7 Ends: 1989 Feb 28 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
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