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 3251 - 3275 of 3726

Per page:
File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
PREM19/3489 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with Dr Cornelio Sommaruga, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, 7 February 1991) Begins: 1990 Aug 11 Ends: 1991 Feb 7 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 26
PREM19/3490 Prime Minister ​​​​​​​(Prime Minister's meeting with Hal Miller MP to discuss the Health Service in the West Midlands (18 February 1988) and subsequent meetings (April and June 1991) about the motor industry) Begins: 1987 Dec 3 Ends: 1991 Jun 4 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 69
PREM19/3492 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meetings with Robert Maxwell: death of Robert Maxwell) Begins: 1987 Nov 18 Ends: 1991 Dec 12 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 31
PREM19/3494 Prime Minister (Policy Unit briefing for PM: general topics) (Part 2) Begins: 1987 Apr 1 Ends: 1991 Jan 29 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Secret Pages: 269
PREM19/3495 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's weekly meetings with Cabinet colleagues and Parliamentary business managers) Begins: 1982 Jun 30 Ends: 1991 Oct 17 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Secret Pages: 123
PREM19/3496 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's occasional bilateral meetings with various Cabinet colleagues) (Part 1) Begins: 1985 Dec 17 Ends: 1991 Apr 5 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 4 Classification: Secret Pages: 283
PREM19/3497 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's requirements for the submission and format of briefs for overseas affairs, speeches, MPs' correspondence, Parliamentary Questions and other important occasions: clearance procedure for statements and announcements) Begins: 1979 Jun 4 Ends: 1991 Oct 2 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 120
PREM19/3507 Prime Minister's Tours Abroad (Prime Minister's visit to Washington, December 1990; administrative arrangements) Begins: 1990 Nov 27 Ends: 1990 Dec 29 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 4 Classification: Confidential Pages: 73
PREM19/3508 Poland (UK/Polish relations: internal situation; economic assistance) (Part 12) Begins: 1990 Jan 2 Ends: 1991 May 13 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Any docs withheld? 2 Classification: Secret Pages: 274
PREM19/3509 Post and Telecommunications (Future of the Post Office: Telecommunications Duopoly Review) (Part 13) Begins: 1990 Jul 6 Ends: 1991 Feb 28 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 214
PREM19/3510 Qatar (Visits to Britain by the Amir Shaikh Khalifa and the heir apparent Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Sep 6 Ends: 1989 Dec 27 Date of release: 2030 Jan 1
PREM19/3512 Regional Policy (Inner cities policy and problems: Action for Cities; regeneration of London Docklands) (Part 17) Begins: 1989 Aug 1 Ends: 1991 Apr 12 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 254
PREM19/3514 Regional Policy (Review of regional policy: Enterprise Zones; Lanarkshire) (Part 8) Begins: 1987 Jan 6 Ends: 1991 Apr 29 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Secret Pages: 347
PREM19/3515 Royal Family ​​​​​​​(Career of Prince Michael of Kent) Begins: 1980 Feb 1 Ends: 1991 Sep 19 Date of release: 2058 Jan 1
PREM19/3516 Royal Family (Civil List) (Part 6) Begins: 1990 Jul 2 Ends: 1991 Dec 12 Date of release: 2032 Jan 1
PREM19/3517 Royal Family (Prince of Wales' proposed visit to India, and Princess of Wales' proposed visit to Pakistan) Begins: 1980 Jun 1 Ends: 1991 Jul 12 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 14
PREM19/3518 Royal Family (Celebration of the Queen Mother's 80th and 90th birthdays: gift by the Cabinet; Loyal Address in Parliament) Begins: 1979 Aug 1 Ends: 1991 Jan 8 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 5 Classification: Confidential Pages: 239
PREM19/3519 Sao Tome and Principe (Relations with UK: internal situation) (Part 1) Begins: 1985 Oct 1 Ends: 1991 Mar 19 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 24
PREM19/3520 Saudi Arabia (Visit of Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, May 1979) Begins: 1979 May 19 Ends: 1991 May 20 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 16
PREM19/3521 Saudi Arabia ​​​​​​​(Visits of King Fahd) Begins: 1981 Sep 15 Ends: 1991 May 7 Date of release: Temporarily Retained by Department
PREM19/3522 Science and Technology (Prime Minister's meetings with scientists, February 1982 and January 1991)​​​​​​​ Begins: 1982 Feb 1 Ends: 1991 Feb 12 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Restricted Pages: 72
PREM19/3526 Security ​​​​​​​(Policy on interception of communications)​​​​​​​ (Part 6) Begins: 1986 Nov 27 Ends: 1988 Mar 29 Date of release: Retained Under Sec 3.4
PREM19/3527 Security ​​​​​​​(Extremist activity in Wales)​​​​​​​ (Part 1) Begins: 1980 Nov 1 Ends: 1991 Oct 17 Date of release: Retained Under Sec 3.4
PREM19/3528 Security ​​​​​​​(Irish terrorist activity in Great Britain: other terrorist activity in Great Britain)​​​​​​​ (Part 7) Begins: 1990 Nov 1 Ends: 1991 Oct 17 Date of release: Retained Under Sec 3.4
PREM19/3529 Security ​​​​​​​(Product of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC)) Begins: 1984 Jun 22 Ends: 1991 Mar 13 Date of release: Retained Under Sec 3.4
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