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 201 - 250 of 3726

Items per page
File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
PREM19/201 Education (Committee of inquiry into the education of handicapped children and young people: responses to the Warnock Report, 1978) 1980 Feb 15 1980 Jul 22 2010 Dec 30 Confidential 17
PREM19/202 Education (Non-teaching staff employed by local education authorities) 1980 Jan 30 1980 Mar 10 2010 Dec 30 Confidential 16
PREM19/203 Energy (Energy Policy) (Part 3) 1979 Nov 5 1980 Feb 19 2010 Dec 30 Secret 264
PREM19/204 Energy (Energy Policy) (Part 4) 1980 Feb 20 1980 May 7 2010 Dec 30 Confidential 207
PREM19/205 Energy (Energy Policy) (Part 5) 1980 May 9 1980 Dec 10 2010 Dec 30 Secret 218
PREM19/206 Energy (Future of British National Oil Corporation (BNOC); proposed sale of British Petroleum (BP) assets; Petroleum and Submarine Pipeline Bill) (Part 3) 1979 Dec 27 1980 Jun 20 2010 Dec 30 Secret 198
PREM19/207 Energy (Energy conservation and home insulation schemes: oil demand restraint) (Part 1) 1979 May 31 1980 Apr 8 2010 Dec 30 Secret 262
PREM19/208 Energy (Coking coal: National Coal Board grant; British Steel Corporation imports) 1979 Jul 23 1980 Sep 8 2010 Dec 30 Confidential 52
PREM19/209 Energy (Offshore supplies interest relief grants scheme; report on irregular payments) 1979 Sep 13 1980 Jun 2 2034 Jan 1 Closed for 53 years
PREM19/210 Energy (European Community energy issues; research projects; oil import targets; coking coal scheme; projects in the hydrocarbons sector) 1979 May 11 1980 Dec 12 2010 Dec 30 Confidential 131
PREM19/211 Energy (Burgoyne Committee report on offshore safety; transfer of responsibility) 1980 Mar 27 1980 Oct 29 2010 Dec 30 Unclassified 24
PREM19/212 Defence (Arms control) (Part 1) 1979 May 4 1979 Jun 15 2010 Dec 30 1 Top Secret 199
PREM19/213 Defence (Arms control) (Part 2) 1979 Jun 18 1979 Aug 24 2010 Dec 30 2 Secret 231
PREM19/214 European Policy (Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)) (Part 2) 1979 Oct 29 1980 Jan 31 2010 Dec 30 Confidential 185
PREM19/215 European Policy (Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)) (Part 3) 1980 Feb 5 1980 Mar 10 2010 Dec 30 Secret 116
PREM19/216 European Policy (Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)) (Part 4) 1980 Mar 12 1980 Apr 30 2010 Dec 30 Secret 145
PREM19/217 European Policy (Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)) (Part 5) 1980 May 1 1980 Jul 16 2010 Dec 30 Secret 209
PREM19/218 European Policy (Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)) (Part 6) 1980 Jul 18 1980 Nov 27 2010 Dec 30 Secret 207
PREM19/219 European Policy (European Council Meeting in Luxembourg, 27-28 April 1980 (re-scheduled from Brussels)) (Part 3) 1980 Feb 5 1980 May 15 2010 Dec 30 Secret 307
PREM19/220 European Policy (European Council Meeting, Venice, 12-13 June 1980) (Part 4) 1980 Jan 14 1980 Jun 19 2010 Dec 30 Confidential 181
PREM19/221 European Policy (European Council Meeting, Luxembourg, 1-2 December 1980) (Part 5) 1980 Oct 24 1980 Dec 4 2010 Dec 30 Secret 128
PREM19/222 European Policy (European Community budget) (Part 4) 1979 Dec 3 1980 Jan 21 2010 Dec 30 Secret 219
PREM19/223 European Policy (European Community budget) (Part 5) 1980 Jan 22 1980 Feb 25 2010 Dec 30 Secret 144
PREM19/224 European Policy (European Community budget) (Part 6) 1980 Feb 26 1980 Mar 19 2010 Dec 30 Secret 153
PREM19/225 European Policy (European Community budget) (Part 7) 1980 Mar 19 1980 Apr 28 2010 Dec 30 1 Secret 259
PREM19/226 European Policy (European Community budget) (Part 8) 1980 Apr 29 1980 Jun 3 2010 Dec 30 Secret 251
PREM19/227 European Policy (European Community budget) (Part 9) 1980 Jun 4 1980 Sep 19 2010 Dec 30 Secret 196
PREM19/228 European Policy (Prime Minister’s meetings with President of European Commission, Roy Jenkins) 1979 May 10 1980 Nov 4 2010 Dec 30 Secret 192
PREM19/229 European Policy (EEC food exports to Soviet Union; sales of subsidised butter) 1979 Sep 3 1980 Jul 30 2010 Dec 30 Confidential 80
PREM19/230 European Policy (Designation of European Community) 1980 Jan 4 1980 Feb 7 2010 Dec 30 Restricted 6
PREM19/231 European Policy (Visit to UK by Henri de Koster, President of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, May 1980; meeting with Prime Minister) 1980 Apr 15 1980 May 29 2010 Dec 30 Confidential 33
PREM19/232 European Policy (Prime Minister’s meetings with James Scott-Hopkins MEP, leader of European Democratic Group (EDG) in European Parliament, and other EDG MEPs) 1979 Jul 16 1980 Jul 18 2010 Dec 30 Confidential 218
PREM19/233 Fishing industry (EEC Common Fisheries Policy) (Part 1) 1979 May 8 1980 Jan 31 2010 Dec 30 Confidential 260
PREM19/234 Fishing industry (EEC Common Fisheries Policy) (Part 2) 1980 Mar 3 1980 May 7 2010 Dec 30 Confidential 134
PREM19/235 Fishing industry (EEC Common Fisheries Policy) (Part 3) 1980 May 9 1980 Aug 15 2010 Dec 30 Confidential 178
PREM19/236 Foreign Policy (Prime Minister’s visit to Greece and Yugoslavia, September 1980: policy) 1980 Aug 27 1980 Oct 6 2010 Dec 30 Secret 225
PREM19/237 Foreign Policy (Prime Minister’s bilateral meetings in Belgrade whilst attending Tito’s funeral) 1980 May 5 1980 May 9 2010 Dec 30 Secret 92
PREM19/238 Foreign Policy (East/West relations; Western strategy in wake of Soviet invasion of Afghanistan) (Part 1) 1979 Jul 5 1980 May 30 2010 Dec 30 Top Secret 192
PREM19/239 France (Prime Minister’s visit to France, September 1980: Franco-British Conference at Bordeaux) 1979 Oct 9 1980 Oct 6 2010 Dec 30 Secret 321
PREM19/240 Gabon (Visit to UK by President Bongo, May 1980: call on Prime Minister) 1980 Apr 23 1980 May 22 2010 Dec 30 Secret 43
PREM19/241 Government Machinery (Responsibility for science matters; future of Advisory Council for Applied Research and Development (ACARD)) (Part 1) 1979 May 16 1980 Feb 28 2010 Dec 30 Confidential 147
PREM19/242 Government Machinery (Promotion of efficiency and elimination of waste: the scrutiny programme) (Part 4) 1979 Nov 30 1980 Feb 12 2010 Dec 30 Confidential 228
PREM19/243 Government Machinery (Promotion of efficiency and elimination of waste: the scrutiny programme) (Part 5) 1980 Feb 14 1980 May 30 2010 Dec 30 Confidential 244
PREM19/244 Government Machinery (Promotion of efficiency and elimination of waste: the scrutiny programme) (Part 6) 1980 Jun 5 1980 Nov 24 2010 Dec 30 Confidential 243
PREM19/245 Government Machinery (Review of non-departmental public bodies (quangos): report by Sir Leo Pliatzky) (Part 1) 1979 Jul 23 1980 Jan 17 2010 Dec 30 Confidential 250
PREM19/246 Government Machinery (Future of Directorate of Overseas Surveys and Centre for Overseas Pest Research) 1979 Jul 19 1980 Feb 8 2010 Dec 30 Confidential 14
PREM19/247 Government Machinery (Ministerial co-ordination of maritime affairs) 1979 May 16 1980 Feb 21 2010 Dec 30 Confidential 14
PREM19/248 Government Machinery (Special advisers; appointment procedure; pay) (Part 1) 1979 Apr 27 1980 May 2 2010 Dec 30 Confidential 235
PREM19/249 Government Machinery (Future of Civil Service Department; integration with the Treasury; Select Committee consideration) (Part 1) 1980 Mar 14 1980 Jul 4 2010 Dec 30 Secret 215
PREM19/250 Government Machinery (Future of Civil Service Department; integration with the Treasury; Select Committee consideration) (Part 2) 1980 Jul 7 1980 Nov 28 2010 Dec 30 Secret 549
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