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 1 - 50 of 3726

Per page:

File name	File title	Begins	Ends	Release date	Any docs withheld?	Classification	Pages
PREM19/1	Archives (Suez 1956 files)	Begins: 1980 Feb 21	Ends: 1986 Jun 30	Date of release: 2006 Dec 1		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 36
PREM19/2	Australia (MT visit to, Jul 1979)	Begins: 1979 May 21	Ends: 1979 Aug 3	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 212
PREM19/3	China (Premier Hua visit to UK, Oct 1979) (Part 1)	Begins: 1979 May 18	Ends: 1979 Nov 29	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 236
PREM19/4	Civil Service (Dispersal) (Part 1)	Begins: 1979 May 22	Ends: 1979 Oct 15	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 109
PREM19/5	Civil Service (Manpower Freeze) (Part 1)	Begins: 1979 May 8	Ends: 1979 May 28	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 189
PREM19/6	Civil Service (Manpower Freeze) (Part 2)	Begins: 1979 Sep 7	Ends: 1979 Dec 31	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 198
PREM19/7	Civil Service (Christmas Message)	Begins: 1979 Nov 20	Ends: 1979 Nov 26	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 4
PREM19/8	Civil Service (Stock Criticisms)	Begins: 1979 Dec 31	Ends: 1979 Dec 31	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Unclassified	Pages: 15
PREM19/9	Commonwealth (Lusaka Heads of Government Meeting) (CHOGM) (Part 1)	Begins: 1979 May 18	Ends: 1979 Jul 31	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30	Any docs withheld? 3	Classification: Secret	Pages: 201
PREM19/10	Commonwealth (Lusaka CHOGM - bilaterals)	Begins: 1979 Jul 31	Ends: 1979 Aug 17	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30	Any docs withheld? 2	Classification: Confidential	Pages: 56
PREM19/11	Cuba (Soviet ground forces)	Begins: 1979 Sep 5	Ends: 1979 Dec 17	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 28
PREM19/12	Cuba (UK credits)	Begins: 1979 Nov 19	Ends: 1979 Dec 14	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30	Any docs withheld? 1	Classification: Confidential	Pages: 9
PREM19/13	Deaths (Lord Mountbatten)	Begins: 1979 Aug 27	Ends: 1979 Dec 21	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30	Any docs withheld? 2	Classification: Restricted	Pages: 216
PREM19/14	Defence (UK Strategic Nuclear Deterrent) (Part 1)	Begins: 1979 May 21	Ends: 1979 Dec 15	Date of release: 2013 Sep 24		Classification: Top Secret	Pages: 177
PREM19/15	Defence (Modernisation of Theatre Nuclear Forces)(Part 1)	Begins: 1979 May 16	Ends: 1979 Nov 29	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 226
PREM19/16	Defence (Anglo-German offset agreement)	Begins: 1979 Jul 5	Ends: 1979 Nov 27	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 8
PREM19/17	Defence (Accidental US nuclear alert)	Begins: 1979 Nov 10	Ends: 1979 Nov 16	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 9
PREM19/18	Economic policy (Public Spending) (Part 1)	Begins: 1979 May 8	Ends: 1979 May 31	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 169
PREM19/19	Economic policy (Public Spending) (Part 2)	Begins: 1979 Jun 1	Ends: 1979 Jul 16	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 206
PREM19/20	Economic policy (Public Spending) (Part 3)	Begins: 1979 Jul 17	Ends: 1979 Aug 29	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 139
PREM19/21	Economic policy (Public Spending) (Part 4)	Begins: 1979 Sep 6	Ends: 1979 Sep 28	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 106
PREM19/22	Economic policy (Public Spending) (Part 5)	Begins: 1979 Oct 1	Ends: 1979 Oct 23	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 122
PREM19/23	Economic policy (Public Spending) (Part 6)	Begins: 1979 Oct 24	Ends: 1979 Nov 19	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 292
PREM19/24	Economic policy (Strategy) (Part 1)	Begins: 1979 May 4	Ends: 1979 Jun 14	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 111
PREM19/25	Economic policy (Strategy) (Part 2)	Begins: 1979 Jun 17	Ends: 1979 Jul 13	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 167
PREM19/26	Economic policy (Strategy) (Part 3)	Begins: 1979 Jul 16	Ends: 1979 Oct 2	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 56
PREM19/27	Economic policy (G7 Summit - Tokyo) (Part 1)	Begins: 1979 May 8	Ends: 1979 Jun 29	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30	Any docs withheld? 2	Classification: Secret	Pages: 288
PREM19/28	Economic policy (G7 Summit - Tokyo) (Part 2)	Begins: 1979 Jun 30	Ends: 1979 Oct 18	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 114
PREM19/29	Economic policy (Budget) (Part 1)	Begins: 1979 May 4	Ends: 1979 Jun 11	Date of release: 2009-12-30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 347
PREM19/30	Economic policy (National Economic Development Council) (NEDC) (Part 1)	Begins: 1979 May 15	Ends: 1979 Dec 18	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 219
PREM19/31	Economic policy (Privatization) (Part 1)	Begins: 1979 Jun 4	Ends: 1979 Jul 20	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 189
PREM19/32	Economic policy (Privatization) (Part 2)	Begins: 1979 Jul 23	Ends: 1979 Dec 19	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 115
PREM19/33	Economic policy (Domestic monetary policy) (Part 1)	Begins: 1979 May 10	Ends: 1979 Jul 25	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 208
PREM19/34	Economic policy (Domestic monetary policy) (Part 2)	Begins: 1979 Sep 7	Ends: 1979 Dec 20	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 245
PREM19/35	Economic policy (Price Commission & Competition Bill)(Part 1)	Begins: 1979 May 7	Ends: 1979 Jun 28	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 167
PREM19/36	Economic policy (Invisibles in trade figures)	Begins: 1979 Sep 6	Ends: 1979 Oct 26	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Unclassified	Pages: 67
PREM19/37	Economic policy (CPRS paper on UK economy)	Begins: 1979 May 1	Ends: 1979 May 8	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 60
PREM19/38	Economic policy (Proposed Council of Economic Advisers)	Begins: 1979 May 30	Ends: 1979 Sep 10	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 44
PREM19/39	Economic policy (Bank of England staff pay)	Begins: 1979 Jun 20	Ends: 1979 Jun 21	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 9
PREM19/40	Economic policy (Executive perks)	Begins: 1979 Jul 16	Ends: 1979 Dec 18	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 87
PREM19/41	Elections (Briefing for incoming PM)	Begins: 1979 May 4	Ends: 1979 May 7	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 93
PREM19/42	Energy (Energy Policy) (Part 1)	Begins: 1979 May 4	Ends: 1979 Jun 16	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30	Any docs withheld? 2	Classification: Confidential	Pages: 219
PREM19/43	Energy (Energy Policy) (Part 2)	Begins: 1979 Jun 17	Ends: 1979 Oct 30	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 232
PREM19/44	Energy (British National Oil Corporation & BP shares) (Part 1)	Begins: 1979 Jul 3	Ends: 1979 Sep 12	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 174
PREM19/45	Energy (British National Oil Corporation & BP shares) (Part 2)	Begins: 1979 Sep 13	Ends: 1979 Dec 21	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Secret	Pages: 267
PREM19/46	Energy (Offshore Supplies Interest Relief Grants Scheme)	Begins: 1979 May 24	Ends: 1979 Sep 20	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 41
PREM19/47	Energy (Nuclear power safety - Schmidt letter)	Begins: 1979 May 28	Ends: 1979 Jun 29	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 28
PREM19/48	Energy (Nuclear power plant industry	Begins: 1979 May 29	Ends: 1979 Aug 14	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 114
PREM19/49	Energy (UK/Australia nuclear safeguards agreement)	Begins: 1979 Jun 27	Ends: 1979 Jul 12	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 42
PREM19/50	European policy (Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)) (Part 1)	Begins: 1979 May 8	Ends: 1979 Oct 26	Date of release: 2009 Dec 30		Classification: Confidential	Pages: 230

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