Archive

Treasury Private Office papers

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 files contain the most politically sensitive documents from the very top of the Treasury, the small circle of Ministers, Special Advisers and Private Secretaries, which were stored, when in use, only a few doors from the Chancellor's room for convenience and security. Their like is rarely found at the National Archives in Kew. These documents are of deep historical interest, an intact Private Office collection in scale and importance exceeded only by that from No.10 itself, relied on by Treasury ministers when writing their memoirs. It is an un-looted tomb in Whitehall's Valley of the Kings – the Palace accountant's rather than the Pharaoh's, but well worth the ticket.

When it first revealed the existence of the files the Treasury stated that it intended to destroy the whole lot, waiting politely till the various Chancellors died off. It was claimed, quite mistakenly, that the contents of these files are either ephemeral or copied elsewhere, and so should not be considered part of "the definitive policy record" maintained by its various divisions for archiving at Kew.

Later, and following representations, officials denied that destruction was ever intended. The first section, covering the Chancellorship of Sir Geoffrey Howe, 1979-83, was released at TNA in 2016; the files have been digitised and uploaded to the list below. The bulk of Nigel Lawson's files, 1983-89, were released at TNA in early 2018 and have also been digitised; they are being uploaded progressively and many are now available on this page. The spreadsheet giving the full list 1979-97 can be downloaded below.

Although some of the files relate to 1979 and 1980, the filing system glimpsed here only got into full operation in 1981, so earlier records are something of a legacy from what went before and are significantly fewer.

The Treasury has also released Nick Ridley's surviving Private Office files as Financial Secretary to the Treasury. These are diferent in form to the Chancellor's files, consisting largely of photocopies of minutes and meetings records relating to directly to Ridley with very little incoming correspondence. They are not listed in the spreadsheet already mentioned, so must derive from the 'unstructured' files already referred to. They are in rough chronological order – a sort of day file.

How to use this page?

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.

Some of these downloads are very big, as large as 50MB, though most are in the range 1-10MB.

Where documents within a file have been selected for the site database, they can easily be viewed by clicking the file name link.

Selected documents in site database

Documents from the files selected for the site database can be read here. Progressively more will be uploaded over time.

Showing items 601 - 650 of 1282

Per page:
File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
T640/558 Public spending (The future pay scales of MPs and Ministers) Begins: 1987 Jun 18 Ends: 1987 Jul 15 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 93
T640/559 Budget (Budget starters 1987) Begins: 1987 Jan 8 Ends: 1987 Nov 18 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Personal & Secret Pages: 194
T640/560 Budget (Budget starters 1987) Begins: 1987 Nov 16 Ends: 1987 Nov 25 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 128
T640/561 Budget (Budget 1987: Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) taxation and excise duty on alcoholic drinks) Begins: 1986 Jul 31 Ends: 1987 Mar 17 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 165
T640/562 Budget (Budget 1987) Begins: 1987 Jan 9 Ends: 1987 Mar 9 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 114
T640/563 Budget (Budget 1987) Begins: 1987 Mar 9 Ends: 1987 Apr 27 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 159
T640/565 Economy (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on British Petroleum (BP) and oil 1987) Begins: 1985 May 29 Ends: 1987 Oct 21 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Personal & Secret Pages: 126
T640/566 Economy (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on British Petroleum (BP) and oil 1987) Begins: 1987 Oct 23 Ends: 1987 Nov 26 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Personal & Secret Pages: 126
T640/567 Economy (Chancellor of the Exchequer's papers on British Petroleum (BP) and oil 1987) Begins: 1987 Nov 27 Ends: 1987 Dec 31 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 119
T640/571/1 International (Group of Five (G5) and Group of Seven (G7) meetings) Begins: 1987 Apr 3 Ends: 1987 Dec 23 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 328
T640/571/2 International (Group of Five (G5) and Group of Seven (G7) meetings) Begins: 1987 Nov 15 Ends: 1987 Dec 2 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 232
T640/571/3 International (Group of Five (G5) and Group of Seven (G7) meetings) Begins: 1987 Dec 3 Ends: 1987 Dec 22 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 191
T640/572 Civil Service (Civil Service statistics 1987-1988) Begins: 1987 Jan 7 Ends: 1987 Jul 1 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 130
T640/573 Economy (Trade: general papers) Begins: 1987 Dec 15 Ends: 1988 Jul 21 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Personal & Secret Pages: 163
T640/574/2 Political (Chancellor of the Exchequer's morning meetings) Begins: 1986 Oct 29 Ends: 1987 Mar 18 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 183
T640/574/3 Political (Chancellor of the Exchequer's morning meetings) Begins: 1987 Mar 20 Ends: 1987 Dec 18 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 164
T640/575 Economy (Task Force 1987-1988; deals mainly with tax reform) Begins: 1987 Jul 10 Ends: 1987 Dec 24 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Personal & Secret Pages: 174
T640/576 Budget (Policy background to Budget 1988) Begins: 1987 Dec 18 Ends: 1987 Dec 18 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 101
T640/577 Budget (Budget 1987) Begins: 1987 Jan 5 Ends: 1987 Feb 15 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 200
T640/578 Budget (Budget overview 1987) Begins: 1986 Nov 24 Ends: 1987 Mar 5 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 130
T640/579 Europe (Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) meeting, Luxembourg, 13 October 1986) Begins: 1986 Jul 7 Ends: 1986 Oct 13 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 156
T640/581 Civil Service (Civil Service pension scheme) Begins: 1987 Jan 11 Ends: 1987 Dec 2 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 92
T640/582/1 Political (Chancellor of the Exchequer's speeches) Begins: 1987 Feb 11 Ends: 1987 Nov 23 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 245
T640/582/2 Political (Chancellor of the Exchequer's speeches) Begins: 1987 Sep 30 Ends: 1987 Nov 2 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 228
T640/583/1 Political (HM Treasury Ministerial speeches) Begins: 1986 May 14 Ends: 1986 Oct 30 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 298
T640/583/2 Political (HM Treasury Ministerial speeches) Begins: 1986 Nov 3 Ends: 1987 Oct 1 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 225
T640/585 Budget (Chevening 1988) Begins: 1987 Jul 8 Ends: 1988 Jan 11 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 47
T640/586 Budget (1988 Budget - Mortgage interest relief) Begins: 1987 Feb 10 Ends: 1988 Feb 18 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 156
T640/587 Budget (Tax reforms 1987-1988 including independent taxation, capital gain and benefits) Begins: 1988 Jan 4 Ends: 1988 Feb 22 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Personal & Secret Pages: 201
T640/588 Budget (Tax reforms 1987-1988 including independent taxation, capital gain and benefits) Begins: 1988 Feb 23 Ends: 1988 Mar 15 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 143
T640/589 Budget (Finance Bill 1988 - Enterprise Zones) Begins: 1987 Jul 21 Ends: 1988 Feb 22 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 130
T640/590 Budget (1987 - Budget Security) Begins: 1986 Nov 6 Ends: 1988 Mar 14 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Personal & Secret Pages: 100
T640/591 Political (Arrangements for the transition of the sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997) Begins: 1987 Dec 4 Ends: 1988 Feb 24 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 110
T640/592 Economy (The National Economic Development Council) Begins: 1987 Dec 8 Ends: 1988 Jan 29 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 133
T640/593 Economy (The National Economic Development Council) Begins: 1988 Feb 2 Ends: 1988 Mar 18 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 132
T640/594 Economy (The National Economic Development Council) Begins: 1988 Mar 21 Ends: 1988 Apr 20 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 191
T640/595 Economy (The National Economic Development Council) Begins: 1988 Apr 21 Ends: 1988 May 24 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 148
T640/597 Economy (Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC): review of restrictive trade practices) Begins: 1987 Jul 22 Ends: 1988 Mar 3 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Confidential Pages: 124
T640/599 Judiciary (Johnson Matthey Bankers Ltd: libel action against the Chancellor of the Exchequer) Begins: 1987 Dec 22 Ends: 1988 Nov 2 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Personal & Secret Pages: 167
T640/600 Economy (Review of the National Health Service (NHS)) Begins: 1987 Dec 23 Ends: 1988 Mar 7 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 169
T640/601 Economy (Review of the National Health Service (NHS)) Begins: 1988 Mar 11 Ends: 1988 Apr 13 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 180
T640/602 Economy (Review of the National Health Service (NHS)) Begins: 1988 Apr 17 Ends: 1988 Apr 22 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 205
T640/603 Economy (Review of the National Health Service (NHS)) Begins: 1988 Apr 28 Ends: 1988 May 16 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 136
T640/604 Economy (Review of the National Health Service (NHS)) Begins: 1988 May 18 Ends: 1988 Jun 2 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 200
T640/605 Economy (Review of the National Health Service (NHS)) Begins: 1988 Jun 3 Ends: 1988 Jun 14 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 162
T640/606 Economy (Review of the National Health Service (NHS)) Begins: 1988 Jun 15 Ends: 1988 Jun 23 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 177
T640/607 Economy (Review of the National Health Service (NHS)) Begins: 1988 Jun 24 Ends: 1988 Jun 28 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 270
T640/608 Economy (Review of the National Health Service (NHS)) Begins: 1988 Jun 29 Ends: 1988 Jul 6 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 137
T640/611 Economy (Review of the National Health Service (NHS)) Begins: 1988 Sep 15 Ends: 1988 Oct 3 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 157
T640/613 Economy (Review of the National Health Service (NHS)) Begins: 1988 Sep 19 Ends: 1988 Dec 19 Date of release: 2014 Classification: Secret Pages: 140
Per page: