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 2801 - 2850 of 3726

Per page:
File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
PREM19/2871 Soviet Union (Visit to the UK by General Dimitri Yazov, Soviet Defence Minister, July 1989) Begins: 1989 Jun 16 Ends: 1989 Aug 1 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30 Any docs withheld? 2 Classification: Secret Pages: 29
PREM19/2873 Soviet Union (UK/Soviet relations: internal situation) (Part 12) Begins: 1989 Feb 1 Ends: 1989 May 31 Date of release: 2018 Jul 24 Classification: Top Secret - Cab One Pages: 361
PREM19/2875 Sri Lanka (UK/Sri Lanka relations: aid to Sri Lanka; internal situation) (Part 3) Begins: 1986 Mar 3 Ends: 1989 Sep 29 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2876 Tanzania (Visits to the UK of President Julius Nyerere and President Ali Hassan Mwinyi) Begins: 1979 Aug 20 Ends: 1989 Apr 6 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2877 Thailand (UK/Thailand relations: visits to UK by Prime Minister, General Prem Tinsulanonda) Begins: 1982 Mar 16 Ends: 1989 Dec 7 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20
PREM19/2878 Trade (Government purchasing policy and the 'Buy British' policy) (Part 5) Begins: 1987 Nov 2 Ends: 1990 Dec 11 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2879 Trade (Commodity policy: International Tin Council litigation; International Coffee Agreement) (Part 4) Begins: 1986 Nov 5 Ends: 1989 Nov 25 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2880 Trade (Britain's international trading policies: General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Uruguay Round; export promotion) (Part 6) Begins: 1987 Feb 18 Ends: 1989 Aug 8 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2881 Trade (Trade in textiles and clothes: Multi-Fibre Agreement (MFA)) (Part 3) Begins: 1982 May 18 Ends: 1989 Nov 29 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2882 Trade (Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD): review of the status of the ECGD) (Part 2) Begins: 1986 Jun 9 Ends: 1989 Nov 23 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20
PREM19/2883 Trade (Consumer safety) Begins: 1984 Feb 6 Ends: 1989 May 31 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2884 Transport (London Regional Transport: Central London Rail Study) (Part 2) Begins: 1986 Dec 11 Ends: 1989 Mar 20 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2887 Transport (Consultative paper on the Government's response to the Blennerhassett Committee's recommendations on drinking and driving: White Paper on road safety) Begins: 1979 Jul 26 Ends: 1989 Nov 28 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2888 United Arab Emirates (Situation in the United Arab Emirates: UK/UAE Relations) Begins: 1981 Nov 11 Ends: 1989 May 30 Date of release: 2018 Jul 24
PREM19/2889 United Nations (International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference, Nice, 1989) Begins: 1989 May 1 Ends: 1989 Jun 22 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2890 USA (Visits to UK by President Bush, May-June 1989 and July 1991) (Part 4) Begins: 1989 Mar 28 Ends: 1991 Aug 12 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 3 Classification: Top Secret Pages: 165
PREM19/2891 USA (UK/USA relations) (Part 6) Begins: 1987 Jul 2 Ends: 1989 Mar 17 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 3 Classification: Secret Pages: 391
PREM19/2892 USA (Prime Minister's visits to Washington, November 1988 and November 1989) (Part 8) Begins: 1987 Jul 24 Ends: 1989 Nov 30 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 9 Classification: Secret Pages: 412
PREM19/2893 Venezuela (Possible visit of the Venezuelan President-elect, Jaime Lusinchi: internal situation) Begins: 1983 Nov 28 Ends: 1989 Sep 12 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2894 Vietnam (Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong; resettlement in the UK) (Part 4) Begins: 1981 Mar 3 Ends: 1989 Jun 29 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30 Any docs withheld? 5 Classification: Confidential Pages: 251
PREM19/2895 Yugoslavia (Visits to the UK by Josip Vrhovec, Foreign Secretary of Yugoslavia (June 1981); visit of his successor Mr Budimir Loncar (April 1989)) Begins: 1981 Mar 26 Ends: 1989 Apr 21 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 77
PREM19/2896 Disasters (Fire at King's Cross Underground Station, 18 November 1989) Begins: 1987 Nov 19 Ends: 1989 Jul 31 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2897 National Health (Expenditure and efficiency in the National Health Service (NHS): NHS Review; draft White Paper) (Part 18) [filed out of sequence] Begins: 1989 Jan 3 Ends: 1989 Jan 22 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 251
PREM19/2898 Aerospace (Radio equipment for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA): NATO air defence radar procurement) Begins: 1979 Nov 21 Ends: 1990 Jul 20 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2899 Aerospace (Review of Scottish lowland airports policy) Begins: 1984 Jul 6 Ends: 1990 Mar 5 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2900 Aerospace (The fourth and fifth terminals for Heathrow Airport: developments at Heathrow) Begins: 1979 Dec 3 Ends: 1990 Jan 5 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2902 Agriculture (Agricultural and food research) (Part 1) Begins: 1983 Jun 20 Ends: 1990 May 29 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2903 Agriculture (Nutrition labelling of food: additives in food; environmental labelling of consumer products) Begins: 1987 Jul 23 Ends: 1990 Oct 30 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 65
PREM19/2904 Agriculture (Salmonella and eggs) (Part 1) Begins: 1988 Dec 8 Ends: 1990 Feb 27 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2905 Agriculture (Salmonella and eggs) (Part 2) Begins: 1990 Apr 6 Ends: 1990 Nov 23 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2906 Angola (Visit to the UK by Angolan Ambassador in Brussels, Fernando Van Dunem, May 1980: possible visits of President dos Santos) Begins: 1980 May 8 Ends: 1990 Mar 18 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30 Classification: Confidential Pages: 31
PREM19/2907 Arts and Amenities (Future of the Victoria and Albert and Science Museums: future of the Theatre Museum and Museum of Childhood; Nehru Gallery Appeal) Begins: 1982 Mar 1 Ends: 1990 Aug 24 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20
PREM19/2908 Arts and Amenities (Future of the British Library: Prime Minister's meetings with Lord Trend and Sir Frederick Dainton and Minister for the Arts, Richard Luce) Begins: 1979 Aug 21 Ends: 1990 May 11 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2909 Arts and Amenities (Policy towards the arts: private sponsorship of the arts; Wilding Report 'Supporting the Arts') (Part 3) Begins: 1987 Jul 31 Ends: 1990 Apr 10 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20
PREM19/2910 Australia (Visits to the UK by Australian Foreign Ministers: Anthony Street, William Hayden and Gareth Evans) Begins: 1981 Feb 16 Ends: 1990 Dec 10 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30 Classification: Secret Pages: 134
PREM19/2911 Austria (UK/Austrian relations: internal situation; Waldheim Report) Begins: 1981 Dec 24 Ends: 1990 May 31 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 7 Classification: Secret Pages: 280
PREM19/2912 Bangladesh (Visit to UK by General Ershad, Chief Martial Law Administrator, June 1982: visit by President Ershad, February 1989; Prime Minister's meeting with Foreign Minister, Anisul Islam Mahmud, June 1990) Begins: 1982 Jun 7 Ends: 1990 Oct 23 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20
PREM19/2913 Bermuda (Prime Minister's visit to Bermuda, April 1990: meeting with George H W Bush, President of the USA) (Part 1) Begins: 1990 Apr 4 Ends: 1990 Aug 17 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 9 Classification: Top Secret Pages: 270
PREM19/2915 Brazil (Proposed visit to UK by President of Brazil, General Joao Figueiredo; visit of the President-elect, Fernando Collor de Mello, February 1990) Begins: 1981 Nov 9 Ends: 1990 May 24 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2916 Broadcasting (Direct broadcasting by satellite: satellite television; Sky Television) (Part 7) Begins: 1988 Jul 1 Ends: 1990 Nov 12 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 127
PREM19/2917 Broadcasting (Television licence fees: Broadcasting Bill) (Part 10) Begins: 1989 Nov 1 Ends: 1990 Feb 28 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 320
PREM19/2918 Broadcasting (Broadcasting policy: Broadcasting Bill) (Part 11) Begins: 1990 Mar 1 Ends: 1990 Jun 29 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30 Any docs withheld? 2 Classification: Confidential Pages: 309
PREM19/2919 Cabinet (Cabinet Committee structure and membership) (Part 3) Begins: 1986 Feb 19 Ends: 1990 Jul 20 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 1 Classification: Secret Pages: 320
PREM19/2920 Canada (UK/Canadian relations) (Part 6) Begins: 1985 Sep 5 Ends: 1990 Jun 25 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30 Any docs withheld? 1 Classification: Secret Pages: 291
PREM19/2921 China (Sino-Soviet relations; visits by Edward Heath MP) Begins: 1979 May 15 Ends: 1990 Jan 15 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 1 Classification: Secret Pages: 36
PREM19/2922 Civil Service (Dispersal policy: transfer of government work to the regions) (Part 4) Begins: 1988 Apr 5 Ends: 1990 Feb 28 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20
PREM19/2924 Civil Service (Proposal by Anne Sloman and Hugo Young of Radio 4 for a radio series on the Treasury: proposed series by the BBC on 'Pillars of State') Begins: 1982 Nov 30 Ends: 1990 Mar 23 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30 Classification: Unclassified Pages: 21
PREM19/2925 Civil Service (Property Services Agency (PSA) restructuring: privatisation of PSA services) (Part 3) Begins: 1988 Mar 4 Ends: 1990 Jul 27 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2926 Civil Service (Speeches by the Heads of the Civil Service, Sir Robert Armstrong and Sir Robin Butler) Begins: 1985 Jun 14 Ends: 1990 Oct 1 Date of release: 2016 Dec 30
PREM19/2927 Defence (Arms control talks and the effect on nuclear weapons) (Part 16) Begins: 1989 Jul 1 Ends: 1990 Feb 27 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20
Per page: