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 3051 - 3075 of 3726

Per page:

File name	File title	Begins	Ends	Release date	Any docs withheld?	Classification	Pages
PREM19/3169	Social Services (Uprating of social security benefits, including child support) (Part 5)	Begins: 1989 Oct 2	Ends: 1990 May 18	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20		Classification: Secret	Pages: 287
PREM19/3170	Social Services (Uprating of social security benefits, including child support) (Part 6)	Begins: 1990 Jun 8	Ends: 1990 Oct 30	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20		Classification: Secret	Pages: 253
PREM19/3171	South Africa (Internal situation: relations with UK; release of Nelson Mandela) (Part 21)	Begins: 1989 Nov 1	Ends: 1990 Feb 28	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20	Any docs withheld? 10	Classification: Secret - Cab One	Pages: 493
PREM19/3172	South Africa (Internal situation: relations with UK; policy on arms sales to South Africa) (Part 22)	Begins: 1990 Mar 1	Ends: 1990 Jun 29	Date of release: 2018 Jul 24	Any docs withheld? 5	Classification: Secret	Pages: 314
PREM19/3173	South Africa (Situation in Namibia) (Part 5)	Begins: 1989 May 2	Ends: 1990 Nov 15	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30	Any docs withheld? 1	Classification: Confidential	Pages: 205
PREM19/3174	Soviet Union (Human rights and the position of dissidents in the Soviet Union: policy towards the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE)) (Part 2)	Begins: 1986 Jun 17	Ends: 1990 May 26	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20	Any docs withheld? 7	Classification: Top Secret	Pages: 277
PREM19/3175	Soviet Union (Prime Minister's visits to the Soviet Union, September 1989 and June 1990: policy) (Part 3)	Begins: 1989 Apr 19	Ends: 1990 May 31	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20	Any docs withheld? 5	Classification: Top Secret	Pages: 188
PREM19/3176	Soviet Union (Prime Minister's visit to the Soviet Union, June 1990: policy) (Part 4)	Begins: 1990 Jun 1	Ends: 1990 Jul 3	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30	Any docs withheld? 8	Classification: Secret	Pages: 208
PREM19/3177	Soviet Union (Policy towards the Soviet Union: calls on Prime Minister by Robert Conquest; Soviet and East European studies) (Part 2)	Begins: 1987 Nov 13	Ends: 1990 Jun 7	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 165
PREM19/3178	Soviet Union (Soviet leadership: major political speeches) (Part 2)	Begins: 1987 Nov 2	Ends: 1990 Jun 14	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30	Any docs withheld? 2	Classification: Confidential	Pages: 258
PREM19/3181	Soviet Union (UK/Soviet relations: internal situation; Lithuanian declaration of independence) (Part 15)	Begins: 1990 Feb 1	Ends: 1990 Mar 31	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30	Any docs withheld? 20	Classification: Top Secret - Cab One	Pages: 307
PREM19/3183	Soviet Union (UK/Soviet relations) (Part 17)	Begins: 1990 Jun 1	Ends: 1990 Aug 31	Date of release: 2018 Jul 24	Any docs withheld? 25	Classification: Top Secret - Cab One	Pages: 312
PREM19/3184	Soviet Union (Visits to the UK by Eduard Shevardnadze, Soviet Foreign Minister, July 1986 and December 1989)	Begins: 1986 Jun 2	Ends: 1990 Jan 3	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 87
PREM19/3185	Soviet Union (Possible visit to the UK by President Gorbachev in 1991)	Begins: 1990 Oct 25	Ends: 1990 Oct 25	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 4
PREM19/3186	Soviet Union (Situation of Jews in the Soviet Union: Women's Campaign for Soviet Jewry; Prime Minister's meeting with Ida Nudel; Raoul Wallenberg) (Part 2)	Begins: 1987 Feb 10	Ends: 1990 Jun 20	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30	Any docs withheld? 5	Classification: Secret	Pages: 169
PREM19/3187	St Lucia (UK/St Lucia relations: internal situation) (Part 1)	Begins: 1979 Jun 29	Ends: 1990 Oct 29	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30	Any docs withheld? 2	Classification: Secret	Pages: 70
PREM19/3188	Switzerland (Visit to the UK of the Swiss Foreign Minister Pierre Aubert (April 1984) and his successor Rene Felber (February 1990))	Begins: 1984 Jan 31	Ends: 1990 Feb 15	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 55
PREM19/3189	Trade (Chambers of Commerce)	Begins: 1989 Nov 16	Ends: 1990 Feb 21	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 4
PREM19/3190	Trade (Freeports in the UK)	Begins: 1983 Feb 25	Ends: 1990 May 3	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 166
PREM19/3191	Trade (UK's international trade policies: analysis of UK imports; General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Uruguay Round) (Part 7)	Begins: 1989 Oct 6	Ends: 1990 Nov 27	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30	Any docs withheld? 3	Classification: Confidential	Pages: 343
PREM19/3192	Transport (British Rail: possible line closures; public transport disputes; proposed restructuring of British Rail) (Part 10)	Begins: 1988 Oct 5	Ends: 1990 Jan 11	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30	Any docs withheld? 5	Classification: Secret	Pages: 284
PREM19/3193	Transport (London Regional Transport: Central London Rail Study) (Part 3)	Begins: 1989 Apr 3	Ends: 1990 Apr 19	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30	Any docs withheld? 1	Classification: Secret	Pages: 278
PREM19/3194	Transport (New format for vehicle registration marks after July 1983: sale of vehicle registration numbers)	Begins: 1982 Feb 4	Ends: 1990 Feb 19	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 124
PREM19/3195	Transport (Severn Bridge: Second Severn Crossing)	Begins: 1982 Jun 14	Ends: 1990 Mar 28	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 307
PREM19/3197	Transport (British Maritime League: Britain's merchant fleet)	Begins: 1983 Nov 17	Ends: 1990 May 23	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20		Classification: Unclassified	Pages: 36

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