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 1351 - 1375 of 3726

Per page:
File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
PREM19/1352 Prime Minister (Allegations by Paddy Ashdown MP about Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operations against British companies in the computer technology field allegedly embargo-breaking) Begins: 1984 May 9 Ends: 1984 Dec 14 Date of release: 2014 Jan 3 Classification: Secret Pages: 37
PREM19/1353 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with Barry Jones MP about British Aerospace (BAe) redundancies in Broughton; launch aid for Airbus A320) Begins: 1984 Jan 16 Ends: 1984 Feb 6 Date of release: 2014 Jan 3 Classification: Confidential Pages: 29
PREM19/1354 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with Ralph Howell MP, seeking support for Employment Research Centre (ERC) of University of Buckingham, July 1983) Begins: 1983 Jul 5 Ends: 1984 May 3 Date of release: 2014 Jan 3 Classification: Confidential Pages: 50
PREM19/1355 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meetings with Paul Volcker, Chairman of US Federal Reserve) Begins: 1981 Jan 27 Ends: 1984 Dec 13 Date of release: 2014 Jan 3 Classification: Secret Pages: 83
PREM19/1356 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with Tom Clarke MP about closure of Speedwell Wire Company, Coatbridge, and assistance for Martin-Black Plc to secure British Gas contract) Begins: 1982 Dec 9 Ends: 1983 Jan 14 Date of release: 2014 Jan 3 Classification: Confidential Pages: 53
PREM19/1357 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with Group of Eight, representing the construction industry, October 1982; pressure for greater financial assistance from government; complaint about local authority capital underspend) Begins: 1982 Jul 22 Ends: 1983 Nov 30 Date of release: 2014 Jan 3 Classification: Confidential Pages: 188
PREM19/1358 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with James Grant, Executive Director of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), December 1982) Begins: 1982 Nov 11 Ends: 1984 Nov 20 Date of release: 2014 Jan 3 Classification: Confidential Pages: 32
PREM19/1359 Prime Minister (Lord Longford's article for ‘The Universe’, drawing on interview with Prime Minister) Begins: 1982 Sep 29 Ends: 1983 Feb 25 Date of release: 2014 Jan 3 Classification: Confidential Pages: 29
PREM19/1360 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meetings with Clifton Garvin, Chairman of Exxon Corporation, and Archibald Forster, Chairman of Esso Petroleum, July 1984) Begins: 1982 Jun 7 Ends: 1984 Jun 3 Date of release: 2014 Jan 3 Any docs withheld? 1 Classification: Confidential Pages: 67
PREM19/1361 Prime Minister tours abroad (G7 Summit - London; 40th anniversary of D-Day: administrative arrangements) (Part 1) Begins: 1982 Nov 26 Ends: 1984 May 31 Date of release: 2014 Jan 3 Any docs withheld? 31 Classification: Secret Pages: 403
PREM19/1362 Prime Minister tours abroad (G7 Summit - London; 40th anniversary of D-Day: administrative arrangements) (Part 2) Begins: 1984 Jun 1 Ends: 1984 Oct 2 Date of release: 2014 Jan 3 Any docs withheld? 10 Classification: Secret Pages: 345
PREM19/1363 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's visit to Liverpool, October 1984; possible visit to British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) at Risley; future of Liverpool Garden Festival site) Begins: 1981 Sep 24 Ends: 1984 Oct 16 Date of release: 2014 Jan 3 Classification: Confidential Pages: 308
PREM19/1364 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with delegation of West German industrialists, April 1984) Begins: 1982 Sep 16 Ends: 1984 Jan 24 Date of release: 2014 Jan 3 Classification: Confidential Pages: 224
PREM19/1365 Regional policy (Review of regional policy; draft White Paper on regional industrial policy; review of urban policy and Urban Programme) (Part 6) Begins: 1983 Nov 2 Ends: 1984 Sep 28 Date of release: 2014 Jan 3 Classification: Confidential Pages: 235
PREM19/1366 Royal family (Visit by the Queen to Liverpool, May 1984) Begins: 1984 Mar 12 Ends: 1984 May 14 Date of release: 2032 Jan 1 Classification: Closed for 47 years
PREM19/1367 Royal family (Relations between the media and members of the Royal Family; possible legal measures to prevent harassment) Begins: 1984 Jan 3 Ends: 1984 Jan 18 Date of release: Retained Classification: Closed for 47 years
PREM19/1368 Royal family (Princess Margaret's proposed visit to China for Royal Ballet performance; Duke of Edinburgh's visit to China as President of World Wildlife Fund (WWF)) Begins: 1982 Aug 5 Ends: 1984 Jan 30 Date of release: 2014 Nov 28 Any docs withheld? 3 Classification: Confidential Pages: 42
PREM19/1369 Science and technology (Maintaining the strength of the science base; the science budget; review of high energy particle physics (HEPP); annual review of government funded research and development 1984) (Part 1) Begins: 1983 Sep 15 Ends: 1984 Jul 30 Date of release: 2014 Jan 3 Classification: Secret Pages: 396
PREM19/1370 Science and technology (Prime Minister’s seminar on science, technology, and industry, September 1983) (Part 1) Begins: 1982 Dec 22 Ends: 1984 Feb 2 Date of release: 2014 Jan 3 Classification: Confidential Pages: 364
PREM19/1371 Security (Irish terrorist activity in Great Britain) (Part 1A) Begins: 1979 May 10 Ends: 1982 Aug 11 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/1372 Security (Irish terrorist activity in Great Britain; threat to Weston supermarkets) (Part 1B) Begins: 1982 Sep 6 Ends: 1984 Feb 10 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/1373 Security (Recommendation by Security Commission in report on Geoffrey Prime case for pilot polygraph scheme in Security Service and Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ)) Begins: 1984 Feb 10 Ends: 1984 Aug 8 Date of release: 2014 Jan 3 Classification: Confidential Pages: 20
PREM19/1374 Security (Circumstances surrounding death of a Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) employee) Begins: 1984 Apr 4 Ends: 1984 Sep 26 Date of release: Retained Classification: Retained Sec 3.4
PREM19/1375 Security (Custody contacts of persons accused of security offences, following arrest of Security Service officer Michael Bettaney) Begins: 1984 May 1 Ends: 1984 Jul 13 Date of release: 2014 Jan 3 Any docs withheld? 1 Classification: Secret Pages: 20
PREM19/1376 Security (Proposed book by Vernon Newton on Donald Maclean's espionage activities) Begins: 1984 May 14 Ends: 1984 May 21 Date of release: 2014 Jan 3 Any docs withheld? 2 Classification: Secret Pages: 29
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