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 3076 - 3100 of 3726

Per page:

File name	File title	Begins	Ends	Release date	Any docs withheld?	Classification	Pages
PREM19/3198	Transport (Policy on roads: private finance for roads; traffic and parking in London) (Part 4)	Begins: 1988 Aug 9	Ends: 1989 Dec 15	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 380
PREM19/3199	Turkey (Prime Minister's visit to Turkey to attend the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Gallipoli Campaign, April 1990) (Part 2)	Begins: 1990 Feb 28	Ends: 1990 Aug 13	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30	Any docs withheld? 3	Classification: Confidential	Pages: 178
PREM19/3200	Turkey (Visits to the UK by Turkish President Kenan Evran (July 1988) and his successor Turgat Ozal (September 1990))	Begins: 1988 Mar 21	Ends: 1990 Sep 12	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30	Any docs withheld? 2	Classification: Confidential	Pages: 67
PREM19/3201	United Nations (UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD): Common Fund for Commodities) (Part 2)	Begins: 1987 Oct 5	Ends: 1990 May 2	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 115
PREM19/3202	United Nations (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO): General Conference in Belgrade, Sep-Oct 1980; UK withdrawal from UNESCO)	Begins: 1980 Oct 16	Ends: 1990 Mar 30	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 101
PREM19/3203	United Nations (Visits to London of Poul Hartling, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (Dec 1980) and his successor Jean-Pierre Hocke (May 1989))	Begins: 1980 Sep 19	Ends: 1990 Jul 6	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 103
PREM19/3204	USA (Prime Minister's correspondence and meetings with Congressman Jack Kemp)	Begins: 1979 Nov 19	Ends: 1990 Jul 23	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 58
PREM19/3205	USA (Economic Situation) (Part 4)	Begins: 1987 Apr 27	Ends: 1990 Jan 30	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20	Any docs withheld? 4	Classification: Secret	Pages: 384
PREM19/3206	USA (Prime Minister's meeting with the Reverend Jesse Jackson, 5 February 1990)	Begins: 1990 Jan 25	Ends: 1990 Mar 27	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 30
PREM19/3207	USA (Prime Minister's visits to the USA) (Part 9)	Begins: 1990 Feb 5	Ends: 1990 Aug 8	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20	Any docs withheld? 7	Classification: Secret	Pages: 115
PREM19/3208	USA (Prime Minister's visits to the USA) (Part 10)	Begins: 1990 Sep 21	Ends: 1990 Dec 28	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20	Any docs withheld? 6	Classification: Top Secret	Pages: 175
PREM19/3209	USA (Presentation of American awards to the Prime Minister, including the William J Donovan Award)	Begins: 1979 Sep 25	Ends: 1990 Jan 11	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 127
PREM19/3210	USA (UK/USA relations) (Part 7)	Begins: 1989 May 2	Ends: 1990 Aug 31	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20	Any docs withheld? 8	Classification: Secret	Pages: 323
PREM19/3211	USA (United States foreign policy: USA/European relations) (Part 3)	Begins: 1987 Jan 9	Ends: 1990 Mar 22	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20	Any docs withheld? 22	Classification: Top Secret - Cab One	Pages: 357
PREM19/3212	Broadcasting (Conservative Central Office media monitoring: BBC coverage of the American bombing raid on Libya, 15 April 1986) (Part 3 annex)	Begins: 1986 Sep 20	Ends: 1986 Oct 30	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30		Classification: Unclassified	Pages: 72
PREM19/3213	Prime Minister (Resignation of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister)	Begins: 1990 Nov 20	Ends: 1991 Nov 11	Date of release: 2016 Dec 30	Any docs withheld? 2	Classification: Secret	Pages: 215
PREM19/3214	Aerospace (Aerospace policy: future and structure of British Airways; merger of British Airways and British Caledonian; airports in the South East; British Aerospace (BAe)) (Part 6)	Begins: 1987 Jan 6	Ends: 1991 Feb 18	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20		Classification: Secret	Pages: 285
PREM19/3216	Agriculture (Agriculture expenditure) (Part 3)	Begins: 1987 Nov 20	Ends: 1991 Feb 28	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20	Any docs withheld? 1	Classification: Secret	Pages: 318
PREM19/3217	Agriculture (Prime Minister's lunch with innovative farmers, 3 May 1991)	Begins: 1989 Nov 27	Ends: 1991 May 2	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20	Any docs withheld? 4	Classification: Confidential	Pages: 75
PREM19/3218	Australia (Visit of the Australian Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, to London, June 1989) (Part 2)	Begins: 1988 Aug 30	Ends: 1991 May 29	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20	Any docs withheld? 3	Classification: Secret	Pages: 196
PREM19/3219	Australia (Call on the Prime Minister by Bill Hayden, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, May 1984; meeting with John Howard, Leader of the Australian Opposition, July 1988)	Begins: 1981 Jan 19	Ends: 1991 Aug 14	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20		Classification: Secret	Pages: 60
PREM19/3220	Barbados (Calls on the Prime Minister by Prime Ministers of Barbados, Tom Adams and his successor Erskine Sandiford)	Begins: 1980 Apr 22	Ends: 1991 Jun 26	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20	Any docs withheld? 1	Classification: Secret	Pages: 122
PREM19/3221	Bangladesh (UK/Bangladesh relations; aid to Bangladesh; internal situation)	Begins: 1979 May 5	Ends: 1991 Feb 18	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 286
PREM19/3222	Belize (Dispute with Guatemala) (Part 3)	Begins: 1983 Mar 1	Ends: 1991 Sep 2	Date of release: 2024 Jan 1
PREM19/3225	Broadcasting (Party political broadcasting) (Part 3)	Begins: 1986 Apr 9	Ends: 1991 Sep 12	Date of release: 2017 Jul 20		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 87

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