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 3301 - 3350 of 3726

Per page:
File name File title Begins Ends Release date Any docs withheld? Classification Pages
PREM19/3567 Sport (British bid to host the Olympic Games in 1992 or later: bids by Birmingham and Manchester) (Part 1) Begins: 1985 Feb 25 Ends: 1991 Nov 26 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 548
PREM19/3568 Sport (Sporting relations with South Africa) (Part 2) Begins: 1980 Mar 1 Ends: 1991 Oct 15 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Secret Pages: 278
PREM19/3569 St Vincent (Independence: relations with UK) Begins: 1979 Jun 20 Ends: 1991 Jun 30 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 63
PREM19/3570 Tonga (UK/Tonga relations: centenary of Anglo-Tongan Treaty of Friendship) Begins: 1979 Nov 1 Ends: 1991 Nov 6 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Unclassified Pages: 24
PREM19/3571 Trade (Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD): review of the status of the ECGD; privatisation of Insurance Services Group) (Part 3) Begins: 1989 Dec 11 Ends: 1990 Dec 27 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 473
PREM19/3574 Transport (British Rail: public transport fares in London; British Rail privatisation)​​​​​​​ (Part 11) Begins: 1990 Feb 1 Ends: 1991 Jul 26 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 1 Classification: Secret Pages: 302
PREM19/3575 Transport (The Channel Tunnel: Channel Tunnel Rail Link)​​​​​​​ (Part 8) Begins: 1990 Sep 4 Ends: 1991 Aug 29 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 212
PREM19/3576 Transport (Compulsory use of car seat belts)​​​​​​​ (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Jun 1 Ends: 1991 Jun 25 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 83
PREM19/3577 Transport (Proposed increase in the driving test fee and changes to the driving test procedure: photographs on driving licences) Begins: 1979 Dec 1 Ends: 1991 Dec 16 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 69
PREM19/3578 Transport (Policy on roads: private finance for roads; Western Orbital Route; motorway service areas)​​​​​​​ (Part 5) Begins: 1990 Jan 5 Ends: 1991 Dec 23 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 362
PREM19/3579 Treasury ​​​​​​​(Barlow Clowes)​​​​​​​ (Part 3) Begins: 1989 Nov 16 Ends: 1991 Dec 19 Date of release: Temporarily Retained by Department
PREM19/3580 Treasury (Review of policy on film finance: Prime Minister's seminar for the British film industry, 15 June 1990)​​​​​​​ (Part 1) Begins: 1990 Jul 1 Ends: 1991 Nov 14 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 64
PREM19/3581 Tunisia (Internal situation: UK/Tunisia relations)​​​​​​​ (Part 1) Begins: 1980 Feb 1 Ends: 1991 Jun 11 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 1 Classification: Confidential Pages: 176
PREM19/3582 Turkey (UK/Turkish relations) (Part 2) Begins: 1987 Oct 9 Ends: 1991 Nov 14 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Any docs withheld? 2 Classification: Confidential Pages: 292
PREM19/3583 United Nations (United Nations Human Rights Commission: appointment of Sir Anthony Williams as UK delegate) Begins: 1983 Nov 1 Ends: 1991 Jun 2 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 19
PREM19/3584 United Nations (Visits to UK by UN Secretary-General, Javier Perez de Cuellar) (Part 3) Begins: 1988 Nov 1 Ends: 1991 Jan 30 Date of release: Retained under Sec 3.4
PREM19/3585 USA (UK/USA relations)​​​​​​​ (Part 8) Begins: 1990 Sep 3 Ends: 1991 Oct 30 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Any docs withheld? 5 Classification: Secret Pages: 326
PREM19/3586 USA (Henry Kissinger's visits to the UK) Begins: 1979 Aug 22 Ends: 1991 Apr 10 Date of release: 2019 Feb 15 Classification: Secret Pages: 276
PREM19/3587 USA (Calls on the Prime Minister by David Rockefeller)​​​​​​​ Begins: 1979 Jun 11 Ends: 1991 Nov 18 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Classification: Confidential Pages: 101
PREM19/3588 USA ​​​​​​​(Visit of William Casey, Director of Central Intelligence in Washington, and his successors)​​​​​​​ Begins: 1981 Feb 12 Ends: 1991 Nov 25 Date of release: Retained Under Sec 3.4
PREM19/3589 USA (Internal political situation: 1988 Presidential election campaign)​​​​​​​ (Part 3) Begins: 1988 Nov 1 Ends: 1991 Jan 30 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 1 Classification: Secret Pages: 365
PREM19/3590 Vietnam ​​​​​​​(Vietnamese refugees)​​​​​​​ (Part 5) Begins: 1989 Jul 12 Ends: 1991 Oct 30 Date of release: 2032 Jan 1
PREM19/3591 Zambia (Visits to the UK by the Zambian President, Kenneth Kaunda)​​​​​​​ (Part 1) Begins: 1979 Nov 1 Ends: 1991 Nov 15 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 5 Classification: Confidential Pages: 290
PREM19/3592 Zimbabwe (Visits to UK by Prime Minister Robert Mugabe) Begins: 1980 May 1 Ends: 1991 Aug 22 Date of release: 2018 Jul 24 Any docs withheld? 11 Classification: Secret Pages: 363
PREM19/3593 Economic Policy (Friendly Societies legislation) Begins: 1989 Dec 12 Ends: 1991 Oct 7 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 93
PREM19/3594 Economic Policy (Indebtedness of various countries: Treasury reports on international debt) (Part 8) Begins: 1989 Jul 7 Ends: 1991 Oct 31 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 560
PREM19/3595 Economic Policy (Public sector pay policy: Treasury monitoring reports) (Part 14) Begins: 1987 Sep 22 Ends: 1991 May 30 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Any docs withheld? 1 Classification: Secret Pages: 311
PREM19/3596 Education (Standards in higher education: Lindop Report on academic validation in public sector higher education; funding of higher education) Begins: 1984 Mar 29 Ends: 1991 Oct 28 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 244
PREM19/3597 Egypt (Prime Minister's meetings with the Egyptian Ambassador) Begins: 1980 Aug 2 Ends: 1991 Sep 17 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Classification: Confidential Pages: 46
PREM19/3598 Energy (Energy conservation: home insulation scheme: energy efficiency) (Part 3) Begins: 1986 Nov 5 Ends: 1991 Mar 27 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Pages: 242
PREM19/3599 Environmental Affairs (Car exhaust emission standards) Begins: 1989 Mar 21 Ends: 1991 Dec 5 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 87
PREM19/3600 Environmental Affairs (Policy on waste disposal and sewage) Begins: 1989 Jun 30 Ends: 1991 Apr 3 Date of release: 2017 Jul 20 Classification: Confidential Pages: 24
PREM19/3601 Foreign Policy​​​​​​​ (Summary notes on Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) Assessments) (Part 3) Begins: 1988 Jan 8 Ends: 1989 Jul 27 Date of release: Retained Under Sec 3.4
PREM19/3602 Aerospace (European Airbus: European Transonic Windtunnel (ETW)) (Part 3) Begins: 1987 Dec 3 Ends: 1992 Sep 3 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Any docs withheld? 3 Classification: Secret Pages: 332
PREM19/3604 Aerospace (Space policy) (Part 4) Begins: 1983 Mar 3 Ends: 1992 Nov 9 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Any docs withheld? 1 Classification: Secret - UK Eyes A Pages: 212
PREM19/3605 Agriculture (Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances (HLCAs)) Begins: 1979 Nov 20 Ends: 1992 Dec 10 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Classification: Confidential Pages: 51
PREM19/3606 Agriculture (Agricultural and food research) (Part 2) Begins: 1990 Jun 4 Ends: 1992 Jan 20 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Classification: Unclassified Pages: 46
PREM19/3607 Agriculture (Retail and wholesale milk prices: milk marketing arrangements) (Part 3) Begins: 1984 Jul 30 Ends: 1992 Jul 27 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Classification: Confidential Pages: 259
PREM19/3608 Agriculture (Review of the meat inspection system: meat hygiene enforcement) Begins: 1983 Nov 30 Ends: 1992 Mar 5 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Any docs withheld? 1 Classification: Confidential Pages: 96
PREM19/3609 Angola (Internal situation: UK/Angola relations)​​​​​​​ (Part 3) Begins: 1988 Sep 1 Ends: 1992 Dec 31 Date of release: Temporarily Retained by Department
PREM19/3610 Arts and Amenities (Policy towards the arts: private sponsorship of the arts) (Part 4) Begins: 1990 May 1 Ends: 1992 Dec 22 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Any docs withheld? 1 Classification: Confidential Pages: 259
PREM19/3611 Arts and Amenities (Charitable trust for works of art in the Palace of Westminster) Begins: 1990 Jun 28 Ends: 1991 Mar 27 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Classification: Unclassified Pages: 12
PREM19/3612 Austria (Visits to the UK by Chancellor Kreisky and his successor Chancellor Vranitsky) Begins: 1980 Jun 27 Ends: 1992 Oct 12 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Classification: Confidential Pages: 100
PREM19/3613 Bahrain (Visit to the UK by the Prime Minister of Bahrain, Shaikh Khalifa, September 1980) Begins: 1980 May 2 Ends: 1992 Aug 20 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Any docs withheld? 1 Classification: Confidential Pages: 140
PREM19/3614 Barbados (Internal situation: UK/Barbados relations) Begins: 1981 Jun 24 Ends: 1992 Mar 2 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Classification: Secret Pages: 254
PREM19/3615 Belgium (Visits to the UK by Belgian Prime Ministers, Wilfried Martens and Jean-Luc Dehaene) Begins: 1979 Jun 29 Ends: 1992 Jun 22 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Any docs withheld? 1 Classification: Secret Pages: 345
PREM19/3618 Broadcasting (Broadcasting policy: television licence fees; future of the BBC) (Part 12) Begins: 1990 Jul 2 Ends: 1992 Aug 28 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Classification: Confidential Pages: 463
PREM19/3623 Canada (Prime Minister's visits to Canada, 25-28 Sep 1983 and 17-18 Dcr 1992) Begins: 1983 Aug 31 Ends: 1992 Dec 17 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Any docs withheld? 1 Classification: Secret Pages: 390
PREM19/3624 Canada (Calls on the Prime Minister by the Premiers of Canadian Provinces) Begins: 1979 Aug 6 Ends: 1992 Feb 7 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Classification: Secret Pages: 90
PREM19/3625 China (Calls on the Prime Minister by the Chinese Ambassador) Begins: 1979 May 30 Ends: 1992 Mar 31 Date of release: 2017 Dec 29 Any docs withheld? 3 Classification: Secret Pages: 161
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