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 3601 - 3625 of 3726

Per page:

File name	File title	Begins	Ends	Release date
PREM19/4307	Ministers (Policy on passenger searching at airports as it affects Ministers)	Begins: 1979 Aug 2	Ends: 1991 Feb 25	Date of release: 2018 Jul 24
PREM19/4314	National Health (Industrial action in the National Health Service (NHS): NHS workers' pay (except nurses)) (Part 4)	Begins: 1990 Feb 7	Ends: 1993 Dec 10	Date of release: 2018 Jul 24
PREM19/4327	Nationalised Industries (Pay of Chairmen and Board members) (Part 4)	Begins: 1986 Oct 13	Ends: 1993 Dec 23	Date of release: 2018 Jul 24
PREM19/4328	Nationalised Industries (Shipbuilding policy) (Part 16)	Begins: 1989 Dec 18	Ends: 1993 Jan 20	Date of release: 2018 Jul 24
PREM19/4329	NATO (NATO policy) (Part 2)	Begins: 1990 Apr 10	Ends: 1993 Oct 12	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4330	NATO (Prime Minister's meetings with the Supreme Allied Commander Europe) (SACEUR)	Begins: 1979 May 23	Ends: 1993 Oct 27	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4332	NATO (NATO Ministerial meetings) (Part 2)	Begins: 1990 Jun 1	Ends: 1993 Jun 10	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4333	New Zealand (Visits to the UK by New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange and his successor Jim Bolger) (Part 2)	Begins: 1986 Feb 6	Ends: 1993 Mar 11	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4334	New Zealand (Internal situation: UK/New Zealand relations; relations with the European Community) (Part 2)	Begins: 1988 Jul 1	Ends: 1993 Sep 27	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4335	Pakistan (Internal situation: military aid to Pakistan; death of President Zia) (Part 1)	Begins: 1979 Oct 17	Ends: 1993 Jul 15	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4337	Parliament (The Unemployment Debate: recall of Parliament) (Part 1)	Begins: 1980 Sep 10	Ends: 1993 Jul 29	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4339	Parliament (Remuneration of Junior Ministers in the House of Lords) (Part 1)	Begins: 1980 Jul 7	Ends: 1993 May 21	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4343	Parliament (Request by the Opposition for increase in financial allowances for Opposition Parties) (Part 1)	Begins: 1980 Jan 25	Ends: 1993 Oct 28	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4347	Poland (Visits to the UK by General Jaruzelski, Prime Ministers Tadeusz Mazowiecki and Hanna Suchocka, and President Walesa) (Part 1)	Begins: 1989 Mar 15	Ends: 1993 Mar 4	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4348	Police (Police pay) (Part 3)	Begins: 1989 Aug 1	Ends: 1993 Nov 16	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4349	Police (Police policy) (Part 4)	Begins: 1990 Jul 2	Ends: 1993 Jan 20	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4352	Posts and Telecommunication (Pay negotiations in the Post Office and British Telecom (BT): industrial action) (Part 2)	Begins: 1987 Sep 14	Ends: 1993 Aug 17	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4353	Portugal (UK/Portugal relations) (Part 2)	Begins: 1986 Nov 14	Ends: 1993 Dec 16	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4354	Portugal (Visits to UK by Prime Ministers Francisco Balsemao, December 1981 and Anibal Cavaco Silva, March 1988) (Part 1)	Begins: 1981 Nov 6	Ends: 1993 Jan 28	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4361	Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meetings with the Board of Deputies of British Jews)	Begins: 1979 Oct 12	Ends: 1993 Mar 25	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4362	Prime Minister (Prime Minister's international commitments: policy on foreign visitors) (Part 2. With slides and negatives)	Begins: 1988 Sep 8	Ends: 1992 Dec 14	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4363	Prime Minister (Request from Mr Seymour Reich, President of B'nai B'rith International, for a meeting with the Prime Minister: Middle East peace process and Soviet Jewry)	Begins: 1989 Jul 31	Ends: 1992 Nov 10	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4365	Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meetings with the Governor of the Bank of England) (Part 1)	Begins: 1982 Jan 8	Ends: 1993 Jun 16	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4366	Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with Lord Young) (Part 2)	Begins: 1989 Mar 7	Ends: 1993 Jun 25	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28
PREM19/4386	Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with ex members of the Cabinet) (Part 1)	Begins: 1988 Jun 7	Ends: 1993 Sep 21	Date of release: 2018 Dec 28

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