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 2101 - 2125 of 3726

Per page:
File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
PREM19/2132 Elections (Election procedure) (Part 2) Begins: 1987 Jan 5 Ends: 1987 May 12 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Any docs withheld? 2
PREM19/2133 Elections (Election procedure) (Part 3) Begins: 1987 May 13 Ends: 1988 Mar 31 Date of release: Retained Classification: Temporarily retained by Department
PREM19/2134 Energy (Energy policy: nuclear power; the Sizewell Report) (Part 10) Begins: 1986 Jun 2 Ends: 1987 Jan 26 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21
PREM19/2135 Energy (Energy policy: nuclear power; Layfield report on new Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR), Sizewell 'B'; doctrine of collective responsibility aspect of Energy Secretary's decision to accept Layfield recommendation; study by Advisory Council on Applied Research and Development (ACARD) on UK future nuclear reactor programme) (Part 11) Begins: 1987 Feb 4 Ends: 1987 Nov 30 Date of release: Retained Classification: Temporarily retained by Department
PREM19/2136 Energy (Energy policy: nuclear power; revision of report by Advisory Council on Science and Technology (ACOST) on industrial impact of Sizewell 'B' decision; extension of Joint European Torus (JET) project on nuclear fusion; disposal of UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) shareholding in National Nuclear Corporation; fast reactor programme) (Part 12) Begins: 1987 Dec 1 Ends: 1988 May 24 Date of release: Retained Classification: Temporarily retained by Department
PREM19/2137 Energy (North Sea oil prices; petrol prices; world oil market) (Part 3) Begins: 1986 Feb 4 Ends: 1987 Feb 28 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21
PREM19/2138 Energy (Future of British National Oil Corporation (BNOC): proposed sale of British Petroleum (BP) assets; Kuwaiti holding in BP) (Part 6) Begins: 1986 Mar 24 Ends: 1988 Dec 30 Date of release: Retained Classification: Temporarily retained by Department
PREM19/2139 Energy (Staffing of Nuclear Installations Inspectorate) Begins: 1980 Mar 5 Ends: 1987 Dec 9 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Confidential Pages: 67
PREM19/2140 Energy (Release of 30 year old records about the Windscale fire in 1957) Begins: 1987 Feb 23 Ends: 1987 Oct 2 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Confidential Pages: 9
PREM19/2141 Environmental Affairs (Radon in houses: remedial measures to deal with potentially hazardous concentrations of Radon-222 gas in houses) Begins: 1986 Dec 17 Ends: 1987 Jan 27 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Confidential Pages: 24
PREM19/2142 Environmental Affairs (Environmental policy; establishment of HM Inspectorate of Pollution; acid rain - European Community directive on large combustion plants; air pollution; Government response to Select Committee on the Environment report on river and estuary pollution) (Part 5) Begins: 1986 Aug 1 Ends: 1988 Jul 27 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Any docs withheld? 1 Classification: Confidential Pages: 334
PREM19/2143 European Policy (European Community telecommunications: Research for an Advanced Communications Environment (RACE)) Begins: 1985 Mar 19 Ends: 1986 Nov 24 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Confidential Pages: 22
PREM19/2144 European Policy (Prime Minister's opening of EUREKA Ministerial Conference, London, June 1986: European capability in new technology) Begins: 1986 Jan 7 Ends: 1986 Jun 16 Date of release: 2016 Nov 7 Any docs withheld? 2 Classification: Confidential Pages: 44
PREM19/2145 European Policy (UK nomination for European City of Culture, 1990: Glasgow nominated) Begins: 1986 Jun 10 Ends: 1986 Oct 8 Date of release: 2016 Nov 7 Classification: Confidential Pages: 16
PREM19/2146 European Policy (Presidency of European Commission (reappointment of Jacques Delors): UK Commissioners (appointment and meetings with Prime Minister); David Williamson to succeed Emile Noel as Secretary-General; UK representation in official posts in Commission) (Part 3) Begins: 1984 Jan 2 Ends: 1988 Jul 29 Date of release: 2018 Apr 18
PREM19/2147 European Policy (Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)) (Part 15) Begins: 1986 Dec 2 Ends: 1987 Feb 7 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Confidential Pages: 447
PREM19/2148 European Policy (Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)) (Part 16) Begins: 1987 Feb 10 Ends: 1987 Mar 27 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Confidential Pages: 275
PREM19/2149 European Policy (Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)) (Part 17) Begins: 1987 Apr 3 Ends: 1987 Sep 30 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Confidential Pages: 235
PREM19/2150 European Policy (Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)) (Part 18) Begins: 1987 Oct 1 Ends: 1988 Mar 30 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21
PREM19/2151 European Policy (Community Trade Marks Office) (Part 1) Begins: 1983 Sep 23 Ends: 1987 Apr 6 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Confidential Pages: 145
PREM19/2152 European Policy (Community-wide digital cellular radio system: Prime Minister's initiative at European Council meeting in London, December 1986) Begins: 1986 Nov 12 Ends: 1987 Sep 7 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Unclassified Pages: 16
PREM19/2153 European Policy (European Council meeting, London, November 1981: meetings with Social Partners - European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and European Community Employers' Association (UNICE)) Begins: 1981 Oct 29 Ends: 1987 Mar 18 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Confidential Pages: 120
PREM19/2154 European Policy (European Council meeting, London, December 1986) (Part 23A) Begins: 1986 Dec 1 Ends: 1987 Jan 19 Date of release: 2016 Nov 7 Classification: Confidential Pages: 439
PREM19/2155 European Policy (European Council meeting, London, December 1986; briefing papers) (Part 23A) Begins: 1986 Nov 27 Ends: 1986 Dec 6 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Confidential Pages: 295
PREM19/2156 European Policy (European Council meeting, Brussels, June 1987) (Part 26) Begins: 1986 May 1 Ends: 1987 Jul 1 Date of release: 2019 Jul 18
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