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 3725

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

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