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 2376 - 2400 of 3726

Per page:
File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
PREM19/2407 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with Gerry Steinberg MP, 23 February 1988) Begins: 1987 Dec 14 Ends: 1988 Mar 18 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Unclassified Pages: 27
PREM19/2408 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with Gordon Brown MP to discuss redundancies and closures in his constituency, 29 January 1987) Begins: 1984 Nov 16 Ends: 1987 Feb 24 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Unclassified Pages: 55
PREM19/2409 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with James Prior MP and Sir Peter Tapsell MP about East Coast sea defences, 1 July 1986. Note:Â With maps) Begins: 1986 May 30 Ends: 1988 Jul 29 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Confidential Pages: 77
PREM19/2410 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with John Browne MP, 21 October 1986: discussion of proposed M3 extension around Winchester. Note:Â With maps) Begins: 1981 Dec 7 Ends: 1987 Apr 10 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Unclassified Pages: 72
PREM19/2411 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with Lord Carrington, Lord Windlesham and Jacob Rothschild to discuss museum buildings, 23 October 1987) Begins: 1987 Jul 21 Ends: 1987 Oct 23 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Unclassified Pages: 28
PREM19/2412 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with Lord Chilver, 13 April 1988) Begins: 1988 Jan 20 Ends: 1988 Apr 14 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Confidential Pages: 6
PREM19/2413 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meetings with Lord Sieff) Begins: 1980 Apr 8 Ends: 1987 Jun 16 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Secret Pages: 72
PREM19/2414 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meetings with Lord Weinstock) Begins: 1983 Jan 28 Ends: 1987 Jun 12 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Confidential Pages: 33
PREM19/2415 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with Lord Wilson, 8 July 1986: proposed China Trade and Cultural Centre in London Docklands) Begins: 1986 Jun 5 Ends: 1987 Jul 13 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Confidential Pages: 60
PREM19/2416 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with Martin Feldstein, Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers in Washington, on 27 April 1984) Begins: 1984 Mar 14 Ends: 1988 Jan 11 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Confidential Pages: 15
PREM19/2417 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meetings with Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan) Begins: 1983 Feb 3 Ends: 1988 Dec 5 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Any docs withheld? 3 Classification: Confidential Pages: 54
PREM19/2418 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with Irina Ratushinskaya, 22 December 1986) Begins: 1986 Dec 19 Ends: 1988 Jun 13 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Unclassified Pages: 9
PREM19/2419 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with Robert Key MP, 28 April 1987) Begins: 1988 Apr 19 Ends: 1988 Apr 27 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Restricted Pages: 7
PREM19/2420 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with Roger Gale MP to discuss the employment problems of the Isle of Thanet, 13 January 1987. Note:Â With map) Begins: 1986 Dec 15 Ends: 1987 May 18 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Restricted Pages: 87
PREM19/2421 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with Ryoich Sasakawa, Chairman of the Federation of World Volunteer Fire-Fighters Associations, 3 October 1987) Begins: 1988 Sep 29 Ends: 1988 Oct 3 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Confidential Pages: 30
PREM19/2422 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meetings with Sir Brandon Rhys Williams MP) Begins: 1986 Nov 11 Ends: 1987 Nov 25 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Unclassified Pages: 72
PREM19/2423 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with Sir Fergus Montgomery MP and Tom Sackville MP to discuss Manchester Airport, 21 April 1988) Begins: 1988 Mar 15 Ends: 1988 Apr 22 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Unclassified Pages: 29
PREM19/2424 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with Sir Peter Emery MP, 22 January 1987) Begins: 1986 Jul 23 Ends: 1987 Jan 22 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Confidential Pages: 28
PREM19/2425 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meetings with the World Leadership of Soviet Jewry and the 'Mothers of Freedom') Begins: 1983 Sep 12 Ends: 1987 May 4 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Any docs withheld? 3 Classification: Confidential Pages: 70
PREM19/2426 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meeting with Toby Jessel MP about proposed closure of the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall, 21 January 1986) Begins: 1986 Jan 10 Ends: 1987 Mar 20 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Confidential Pages: 49
PREM19/2427 Prime Minister (Prime Minister's meetings with Natan Sharansky) Begins: 1986 Jul 30 Ends: 1987 May 11 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Confidential Pages: 46
PREM19/2428 Prime Minister (Policy Unit briefing for Prime Minister: general topics) Begins: 1983 Mar 1 Ends: 1987 Mar 4 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Any docs withheld? 1 Classification: Secret Pages: 252
PREM19/2429 Prime Minister (Possible defamation of the Prime Minister by the Radio 4 'Today' programme) Begins: 1988 Jan 18 Ends: 1988 Jan 22 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Classification: Confidential Pages: 9
PREM19/2430 Prime Minister (Visits to government departments) (Part 3) Begins: 1980 Jan 15 Ends: 1982 Nov 25 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Any docs withheld? 2 Classification: Confidential Pages: 248
PREM19/2431 Prime Minister's Gifts (Copies of invoices received for payment for gifts purchased for presentation to overseas visitors: general correspondence on gifts) (Part 3) Begins: 1984 Sep 3 Ends: 1986 Sep 5 Date of release: 2016 Jul 21 Any docs withheld? 1 Classification: Restricted Pages: 315
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