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 2826 - 2850 of 3726

Per page:

File name	File title	Begins	Ends	Release date	Any docs withheld?	Classification	Pages
PREM19/2900	Aerospace (The fourth and fifth terminals for Heathrow Airport: developments at Heathrow)	Begins: 1979 Dec 3	Ends: 1990 Jan 5	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2902	Agriculture (Agricultural and food research) (Part 1)	Begins: 1983 Jun 20	Ends: 1990 May 29	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2903	Agriculture (Nutrition labelling of food: additives in food; environmental labelling of consumer products)	Begins: 1987 Jul 23	Ends: 1990 Oct 30	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 65
PREM19/2904	Agriculture (Salmonella and eggs) (Part 1)	Begins: 1988 Dec 8	Ends: 1990 Feb 27	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2905	Agriculture (Salmonella and eggs) (Part 2)	Begins: 1990 Apr 6	Ends: 1990 Nov 23	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2906	Angola (Visit to the UK by Angolan Ambassador in Brussels, Fernando Van Dunem, May 1980: possible visits of President dos Santos)	Begins: 1980 May 8	Ends: 1990 Mar 18	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 31
PREM19/2907	Arts and Amenities (Future of the Victoria and Albert and Science Museums: future of the Theatre Museum and Museum of Childhood; Nehru Gallery Appeal)	Begins: 1982 Mar 1	Ends: 1990 Aug 24	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20
PREM19/2908	Arts and Amenities (Future of the British Library: Prime Minister's meetings with Lord Trend and Sir Frederick Dainton and Minister for the Arts, Richard Luce)	Begins: 1979 Aug 21	Ends: 1990 May 11	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2909	Arts and Amenities (Policy towards the arts: private sponsorship of the arts; Wilding Report 'Supporting the Arts') (Part 3)	Begins: 1987 Jul 31	Ends: 1990 Apr 10	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20
PREM19/2910	Australia (Visits to the UK by Australian Foreign Ministers: Anthony Street, William Hayden and Gareth Evans)	Begins: 1981 Feb 16	Ends: 1990 Dec 10	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 134
PREM19/2911	Austria (UK/Austrian relations: internal situation; Waldheim Report)	Begins: 1981 Dec 24	Ends: 1990 May 31	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20	Any docs withheld? 7	Classification: Secret	Pages: 280
PREM19/2912	Bangladesh (Visit to UK by General Ershad, Chief Martial Law Administrator, June 1982: visit by President Ershad, February 1989; Prime Minister's meeting with Foreign Minister, Anisul Islam Mahmud, June 1990)	Begins: 1982 Jun 7	Ends: 1990 Oct 23	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20
PREM19/2913	Bermuda (Prime Minister's visit to Bermuda, April 1990: meeting with George H W Bush, President of the USA) (Part 1)	Begins: 1990 Apr 4	Ends: 1990 Aug 17	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20	Any docs withheld? 9	Classification: Top Secret	Pages: 270
PREM19/2915	Brazil (Proposed visit to UK by President of Brazil, General Joao Figueiredo; visit of the President-elect, Fernando Collor de Mello, February 1990)	Begins: 1981 Nov 9	Ends: 1990 May 24	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2916	Broadcasting (Direct broadcasting by satellite: satellite television; Sky Television) (Part 7)	Begins: 1988 Jul 1	Ends: 1990 Nov 12	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 127
PREM19/2917	Broadcasting (Television licence fees: Broadcasting Bill) (Part 10)	Begins: 1989 Nov 1	Ends: 1990 Feb 28	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 320
PREM19/2918	Broadcasting (Broadcasting policy: Broadcasting Bill) (Part 11)	Begins: 1990 Mar 1	Ends: 1990 Jun 29	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30	Any docs withheld? 2	Classification: Confidential	Pages: 309
PREM19/2919	Cabinet (Cabinet Committee structure and membership) (Part 3)	Begins: 1986 Feb 19	Ends: 1990 Jul 20	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20	Any docs withheld? 1	Classification: Secret	Pages: 320
PREM19/2920	Canada (UK/Canadian relations) (Part 6)	Begins: 1985 Sep 5	Ends: 1990 Jun 25	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30	Any docs withheld? 1	Classification: Secret	Pages: 291
PREM19/2921	China (Sino-Soviet relations; visits by Edward Heath MP)	Begins: 1979 May 15	Ends: 1990 Jan 15	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20	Any docs withheld? 1	Classification: Secret	Pages: 36
PREM19/2922	Civil Service (Dispersal policy: transfer of government work to the regions) (Part 4)	Begins: 1988 Apr 5	Ends: 1990 Feb 28	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20
PREM19/2924	Civil Service (Proposal by Anne Sloman and Hugo Young of Radio 4 for a radio series on the Treasury: proposed series by the BBC on 'Pillars of State')	Begins: 1982 Nov 30	Ends: 1990 Mar 23	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30		Classification: Unclassified	Pages: 21
PREM19/2925	Civil Service (Property Services Agency (PSA) restructuring: privatisation of PSA services) (Part 3)	Begins: 1988 Mar 4	Ends: 1990 Jul 27	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2926	Civil Service (Speeches by the Heads of the Civil Service, Sir Robert Armstrong and Sir Robin Butler)	Begins: 1985 Jun 14	Ends: 1990 Oct 1	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2927	Defence (Arms control talks and the effect on nuclear weapons) (Part 16)	Begins: 1989 Jul 1	Ends: 1990 Feb 27	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20

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