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 3276 - 3300 of 3726

Per page:
File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
PREM19/3530 Security ​​​​​​​(Reform of the Official Secrets Act)​​​​​​​ (Part 3) Begins: 1988 Nov 1 Ends: 1991 Nov 21 Date of release: Temporarily Retained by Department
PREM19/3531 Security ​​​​​​​(Miscellaneous leaks and security breaches)​​​​​​​ (Part 3) Begins: 1989 Jan 10 Ends: 1991 Apr 26 Date of release: Retained Under Sec 3.4
PREM19/3532 Security ​​​​​​​(Security of the Secret Service)​​​​​​​ (Part 14) Begins: 1990 May 1 Ends: 1991 Jun 27 Date of release: Retained Under Sec 3.4
PREM19/3533 Security ​​​​​​​(Telephone scramblers installed in private homes: security of the private homes of No. 10 Downing Street staff)​​​​​​​ Begins: 1981 Jan 14 Ends: 1991 Jan 30 Date of release: 2052 Jan 1
PREM19/3535 Security ​​​​​​​(Review of intelligence needs)​​​​​​​ Begins: 1980 Aug 3 Ends: 1991 Oct 15 Date of release: Retained Under Sec 3.4
PREM19/3536 Security ​​​​​​​(Prime Minister's comments on codeword documents)​​​​​​​ Begins: 1979 Jun 21 Ends: 1991 Feb 10 Date of release: Retained Under Sec 3.4
PREM19/3537 Security ​​​​​​​(Ministerial protection (personal): security arrangements for the overnight policing of Ministers' cars; VIP security)​​​​​​​ (Part 2) Begins: 1987 Oct 2 Ends: 1991 Jul 26 Date of release: Retained Under Sec 3.4
PREM19/3538 Security ​​​​​​​(Security of the Prime Minister's official country residence, Chequers)​​​​​​​ (Part 5) Begins: 1988 Feb 3 Ends: 1991 Jun 26 Date of release: Retained Under Sec 3.4
PREM19/3539 Social Services (Change in the pension age) Begins: 1989 Jun 9 Ends: 1991 Jan 23 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Secret Pages: 70
PREM19/3540 Social Services (Assistance with fuel: severe winter payments)​​​​​​​ (Part 2) Begins: 1986 Mar 1 Ends: 1991 Jun 14 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Secret Pages: 152
PREM19/3541 Social Services (Statutory Sick Pay) (Part 2) Begins: 1981 Nov 1 Ends: 1991 Feb 1 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 11
PREM19/3542 Social Services (Review of social security benefits: equality in the state pension age) (Part 7) Begins: 1990 Mar 26 Ends: 1991 Nov 27 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Secret Pages: 345
PREM19/3543 Social Services (Perinatal and infant mortality) (Part 2) Begins: 1988 Mar 15 Ends: 1990 Dec 7 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Unclassified Pages: 64
PREM19/3544 South Korea (UK/South Korea relations: internal situation) (Part 2) Begins: 1986 Sep 11 Ends: 1991 Jun 17 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Any docs withheld? 3 Classification: Confidential Pages: 255
PREM19/3545 South Africa (Internal situation: relations with UK) (Part 23) Begins: 1990 Jul 11 Ends: 1990 Dec 28 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Any docs withheld? 12 Classification: Top Secret Pages: 297
PREM19/3548 Soviet Union (Contacts with and calls by Soviet Ambassadors) Begins: 1979 Sep 18 Ends: 1991 Dec 3 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 2 Classification: Secret Pages: 195
PREM19/3549 Soviet Union (Trade relations: controls on strategic exports) (Part 4) Begins: 1986 Dec 1 Ends: 1991 Jan 28 Date of release: Reconsideration 2027 Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/3550 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 1) Begins: 1990 Jun 1 Ends: 1991 Mar 4 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 31
PREM19/3551 Soviet Union (New Russian Embassy in Kensington Palace Gardens: Operation Brunch; proposed site for Ambassador's residence in Moscow) (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Dec 1 Ends: 1991 Oct 31 Date of release: Reconsideration 2027 Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/3554 Soviet Union (Soviet and Cuban intervention in Central America and Third World: Soviet foreign policy) (Part 1) Begins: 1981 Feb 19 Ends: 1991 May 13 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Any docs withheld? 7 Classification: Top Secret Pages: 206
PREM19/3555 Soviet Union (UK/Soviet relations: internal situation) (Part 18) Begins: 1990 Sep 3 Ends: 1990 Nov 30 Date of release: Reconsideration 2027 Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/3558 Soviet Union (UK/Soviet relations: internal situation; August 1991 coup) (Part 21) Begins: 1991 Aug 1 Ends: 1991 Aug 23 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Classification: Secret Pages: 513
PREM19/3563 Spain (Internal situation: UK/Spain relations) (Part 2) Begins: 1986 Mar 3 Ends: 1991 Nov 7 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Classification: Secret Pages: 324
PREM19/3564 Spain (Visits to the UK by Spanish Foreign Ministers) Begins: 1981 Aug 17 Ends: 1991 May 8 Date of release: 2032 Jan 1
PREM19/3565 Spain ​​​​​​​(Visits of the Spanish Prime Ministers, Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo and his successor Felipe Gonzalez)​​​​​​​ Begins: 1981 Aug 17 Ends: 1991 May 8 Date of release: Temporarily Retained by Department
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