The archive containing documents relating to Margaret Thatcher’s life and career up to May 4th 1979 was opened to the public on Friday 14th November. This is the first time that papers belonging to a British Prime Minister have been released during their lifetime. The material, housed at the Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge, comprises around 100 archive boxes in total.
The archive containing documents relating to Margaret Thatcher’s life and career up to May 4th 1979 was opened to the public on Friday 14th November. This is the first time that papers belonging to a British Prime Minister have been released during their lifetime. The material, housed at the Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge, comprises around 100 archive boxes in total.
The archive comprises of information relating to Lady Thatcher’s personal and professional life. It includes collections of her father’s preaching notes, which stress the importance of the individual and the need for courage, determination and hard work, as well as papers relating to her decision to run for the party leadership in 1974-1975. Her annotated copy of the 1944 Employment White Paper, which she is said to have carried around in her handbag for many years, is among the documents that have been made public.
The majority of the papers originate from Margaret Thatcher’s period as Leader of the Opposition from 1975-1979, and include correspondence with party colleagues Keith Joseph and Geoffrey Howe, as well as papers revealing the party’s tortured adoption of new policies which led to the trade union reform. The only surviving copy of the unused Conservative Party manifesto, which was drafted for the expected General Election of autumn 1978, is also contained in the archive.
Andrew Riley, Archivist of the Thatcher Papers, said:
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