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 1701 - 1725 of 3726

Per page:
File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
PREM19/1703 Economic policy (Policy towards privatisation: disposal of public sector assets; contracting out of public sector functions; flotation of Royal Ordnance PLC; Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU) picketing at DHSS Huyton Local Office over privatised cleaning contract) (Part 13) Begins: 1985 Dec 2 Ends: 1986 Jun 27 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30
PREM19/1704 Economic policy (Policy towards privatisation: disposal of public sector assets; contracting out of public sector functions; flotation of Royal Ordnance PLC; Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU) picketing at DHSS Huyton Local Office over privatised cleaning contract) (Part 14) Begins: 1986 Jul 9 Ends: 1986 Oct 29 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30
PREM19/1705 Economic policy (Economic strategy: pay and prices; economic statistics) (Part 26) Begins: 1984 Mar 15 Ends: 1985 Dec 16 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 385
PREM19/1706 Economic policy (International finance: indebtedness and effect on Western banking system; British exposure) (Part 5) Begins: 1985 Jan 1 Ends: 1986 Feb 5 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 387
PREM19/1707 Economic policy (Domestic monetary policy) (Part 15) Begins: 1985 Dec 2 Ends: 1986 Sep 30 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 448
PREM19/1708 Economic policy (Reform of personal taxation: preparation of Green Paper on personal taxation (husband and wife); partnership taxation) (Part 2) Begins: 1984 Jan 10 Ends: 1986 Jan 29 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 203
PREM19/1709 Economic policy (Reform of personal taxation: draft Green Paper by Chancellor of the Exchequer; 'historic papers' on Sir Geoffrey Howe's proposals in 1982-1983 for family taxation reform) Begins: 1985 Sep 27 Ends: 1985 Dec 3 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 236
PREM19/1710 Economic policy (Prime Minister's bilaterals with the Chancellor of the Exchequer) (Part 1) Begins: 1983 Oct 4 Ends: 1986 Oct 29 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 180
PREM19/1711 Economic policy (Competition Policy) (Part 1) Begins: 1983 Dec 16 Ends: 1986 Feb 28 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 182
PREM19/1712 Economic policy (Consultation with International Monetary Fund (IMF): meetings with IMF and World Bank)(Part 2) Begins: 1983 Mar 7 Ends: 1986 Sep 29 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 256
PREM19/1713 Economic policy (Private direct investment overseas: British representation at United States conference on private sector initiatives) Begins: 1984 Jan 19 Ends: 1986 Dec 16 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 132
PREM19/1714 Economic policy (G7 Summit - Tokyo) (Part 20) Begins: 1985 Jun 14 Ends: 1986 May 6 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30 Any docs withheld? 1 Classification: Secret Pages: 388
PREM19/1715 Economic policy (G7 Summit - Tokyo) (Part 21) Begins: 1985 Apr 30 Ends: 1986 May 6 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Any docs withheld? 1 Classification: Secret Pages: 197
PREM19/1716 Economic policy (Simplifying the tax legislation: correspondence with Peter Rowland of Rowland Debono Ltd) Begins: 1983 May 10 Ends: 1986 Aug 11 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 179
PREM19/1717 Economic policy (Financial Services Bill: the Stock Exchange; commercial fraud; Roskill Report on Fraud Trials) (Part 2) Begins: 1985 Oct 1 Ends: 1986 Jan 31 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 268
PREM19/1718 Economic policy (Financial Services Bill: Stock Exchange deregulation, the 'Big Bang' commercial fraud; Roskill Report on Fraud Trials) (Part 3) Begins: 1985 Feb 3 Ends: 1986 Sep 26 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30 Any docs withheld? 1 Classification: Confidential Pages: 352
PREM19/1719 Economic policy (Pay Review Body reports: pay of civil servants, armed forces and National Health Service (NHS); future of Top Salaries Review Body (TSRB)) (Part 8) Begins: 1985 Dec 10 Ends: 1986 Sep 29 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 340
PREM19/1720 Economic policy (The Budget, 1985 and 1986) (Part 14) Begins: 1985 Mar 11 Ends: 1986 Jan 31 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 399
PREM19/1721 Economic policy (The 1986 Budget) (Part 15) Begins: 1986 Feb 5 Ends: 1986 Apr 24 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 354
PREM19/1722 Education (General policy on education and education expenditure: grant aided schools; biased teaching and political indoctrination in schools and colleges) (Part 6) Begins: 1985 Sep 4 Ends: 1986 Apr 29 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 431
PREM19/1723 Education (General policy on education and education expenditure: biased teaching and political indoctrination in schools and colleges; University funding) (Part 7) Begins: 1986 May 6 Ends: 1986 May 30 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 387
PREM19/1724 Education (General policy on education and education expenditure: introduction of General Certificate of Education (GCSE); Education Bill; biased teaching and political indoctrination in schools and colleges; city technological colleges; restructuring school education) (Part 8) Begins: 1986 Jun 2 Ends: 1986 Sep 25 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 284
PREM19/1725 Education (General policy on education and education expenditure: city technology colleges; Education Bill; academic tenure; education reform; implications of removing responsibility for education from Local Education Authorities (LEAs); future of polytechnics) (Part 9) Begins: 1986 Oct 1 Ends: 1986 Oct 31 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 215
PREM19/1726 Education (Secondary school education: reform of examinations for pupils of 16-plus; school governing bodies; education for economic awareness) (Part 3) Begins: 1984 Jun 12 Ends: 1986 Mar 18 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 172
PREM19/1727 Education (Training: White Paper on vocational education and training for jobs; extension of technical and vocational education; proposed National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ)) (Part 2) Begins: 1984 Jan 3 Ends: 1986 Jun 30 Date of release: 2014 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 373
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