The Chancellor of the Exchequer's secret files (Lawson)

In 2012 www.margaretthatcher.org uncovered through an FOI request the existence of a vast cache of secret papers stored at H.M. Treasury, some 4,850 files from the Private Office of successive Chancellors (and Chief Secretaries) between 1979 and 1997.

The bulk of Nigel Lawson's files, 1983-89, were released at TNA in early 2018 and have been digitised; they are being uploaded progressively and many are now available.

Below are links to the downloadable files in numerical order. The original file names have been modified to convey content more readily. An average file has around 100 pages.

Showing items 1001 - 1050 of 1089

File name	Title	Begins	Ends	Release date	Classification	Pages
T640/1279	International (Prime Minister's meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev, April 1989)	89 Mar 8	89 Apr 18	2014	Confidential	26
T640/1280	International (Paris Club: discussion of debt strategy for Mexico and the Philippines, May 1989)	89 May 17	89 May 31	2014	Confidential	40
T640/1281	International (International Committee on Debt Management)	88 Sep 30	89 Mar 9	2014	Confidential	220
T640/1282	International (International Committee on Debt Management)	89 Mar 10	89 May 31	2014	Secret	160
T640/1283	International (International Committee on Debt Management)	89 Jun 1	89 Jul 7	2014	Confidential	47
T640/1284	Economy (Legislation on dematerialisation)	89 Mar 6	89 Apr 27	2014	Confidential	30
T640/1285	Political (Legislative programme 1989-1990)	89 Feb 8	89 Apr 5	2014	Confidential	148
T640/1286	International (Paris Economic Summit, Paris, February 1989)	89 Feb 17	89 Apr 4	2014	Confidential	41
T640/1287	Europe (The Conservative Party's European elections manifesto)	88 Oct 10	89 Feb 16	2014	Confidential	93
T640/1288	Europe (Anti-dumping policy in the European Community)	88 Jun 20	89 Feb 10	2014	Restricted	47
T640/1289	Europe (Collection of intra-Community trade statistics after 1992)	88 Oct 19	89 Jan 17	2014	Confidential	44
T640/1290	Europe (Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) meeting, 17 April and 9 October 1989)	89 Mar 10	89 Oct 19	2014	Confidential	104
T640/1291	International (Aid Framework: use of the unallocated reserves 1989-1990 and 1990-1991 to 1992-1993)	89 Jan 12	89 Aug 16	2014	Restricted	30
T640/1292	Europe (Support Group for Somalia)	89 Jun 27	89 Jul 7	2014	Confidential	18
T640/1293	Europe (Renewal of the financial protocols with Malta and Cyprus)	89 Mar 15	89 Mar 17	2014	Confidential	11
T640/1298	International (HM Customs and Excise computer systems: Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) Project)	88 Feb 18	89 Feb 28	2014	Confidential	66
T640/1299	Administration (Sponsorship of departmental reports)	89 May 19	89 Jul 14	2014	Unclassified	13
T640/1300	International (Meetings with international Ministers on middle income debt strategies)	89 Apr 7	89 May 22	2014	Confidential	202
T640/1301	Public spending (Public Expenditure White Paper 1989)	88 Oct 27	89 Feb 7	2014	Confidential	189
T640/1302	Political (HM Treasury Parliamentary business 1989)	88 Dec 6	89 Apr 28	2014	Confidential	181
T640/1303	Political (HM Treasury Parliamentary business 1989)	89 May 3	89 May 26	2014	Confidential	208
T640/1304	Political (HM Treasury Parliamentary business 1989)	89 Jun 2	89 Jun 23	2014	Secret	227
T640/1305	Political (HM Treasury Parliamentary business 1989)	89 Jun 26	89 Jul 13	2014	Confidential	334
T640/1306	Political (HM Treasury Parliamentary business 1989)	89 Jul 14	89 Sep 29	2014	Confidential	171
T640/1307	Political (HM Treasury Parliamentary business 1989)	89 Oct 3	89 Oct 25	2014	Confidential	72
T640/1308	Budget (Budget 1989: public expenditure)	89 Nov 3	89 Nov 14	2014	Secret	293
T640/1309	Budget (Implementation of the Keith Report on the enforcement powers of the Revenue Departments)	86 Feb 17	88 Aug 1	2014	Confidential	166
T640/1312	International (Financial developments in the USA)	87 Feb 19	89 Jul 19	2014	Confidential	71
T640/1313	Europe (Paris Economic Summit to coincide with the bicentenary of the French Revolution)	89 Feb 15	89 May 26	2014	Secret	225
T640/1315	Budget (Budget 1989: starters and housing policy)	88 Sep 20	89 Jan 25	2014	Confidential	265
T640/1316	Budget (Budget 1988: Dorneywood meetings)	88 Jan 11	89 Jan 9	2014	Secret	263
T640/1318	International (International Monetary Fund (IMF) and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD): Spring interim and Development Committee meetings; briefs)	89 Mar 31	89 Mar 31	2014	Restricted	162
T640/1320/1	Economy (Statistics and press notices 1987-1988)	87 Jun 4	89 Jan 19	2014	Personal & Secret	272
T640/1320/2	Economy (Statistics and press notices 1987-1988)	88 Aug 24	89 Jan 25	2014	Personal & Secret	367
T640/1321	Europe (World economy: Italy 1987-1989)	89 Feb 13	89 Jun 23	2014	Secret	185
T640/1322/1	Economy (Labour market 1989)	89 Jan 18	89 Mar 16	2014	Secret	269
T640/1322/2	Economy (Labour market 1989)	89 Jan 1	89 May 17	2014	Secret	312
T640/1322/3	Economy (Labour market 1989)	89 Mar 16	89 Jul 19	2014	Secret	295
T640/1323	Budget (Control of Borrowing Order and the Budget: Central Government Borrowing Requirement)	88 Feb 8	89 Jul 4	2014	Secret	78
T640/1324	International (Chancellor of the Exchequer's monthly meeting on international issues)	89 Jul 18	89 Oct 9	2014	Confidential	82
T640/1326	Europe (European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): papers)	89 Jan 20	89 Jul 12	2014	Confidential	273
T640/1327	Economy (Forestry. With map)	89 Feb 21	89 Oct 3	2014	Secret	211
T640/1330/1	Economy (National Audit Office (NAO) and Audit Commission: Public Accounts Commission (PAC))	86 May 14	88 Sep 19	2014	Secret	313
T640/1330/2	Economy (National Audit Office (NAO) and Audit Commission: Public Accounts Commission (PAC))	88 Sep 22	89 Jul 26	2014	Secret	238
T640/1331/2	Economy (Information Technology (IT))	89 Apr 10	89 Oct 23	2014	Personal & Confidential	179
T640/1332	Local Government (Local authority financial assets)	89 Mar 28	89 Oct 11	2014	Confidential	100
T640/1333	Economy (Post Office and British Telecom (BT))	89 Jun 1	89 Oct 2	2014	Confidential	111
T640/1335/1	Public spending (Health, social services and National Insurance Contributions)	88 Dec 19	89 May 30	2014	Personal & Confidential	287
T640/1335/2	Public spending (Health, social services and National Insurance Contributions)	89 May 3	89 Jul 18	2014	Secret	192
T640/1335/3	Public spending (Health, social services and National Insurance Contributions)	89 Jul 10	89 Oct 18	2014	Secret	122