Files from 1983 released as 20-year rule transition begins
01 August 2013
Hundreds of files from 1983 have been released to the UK National Archives today as the government begins the ten-year transition to a 20-year rule, down from 30 years, for transfer and release.
Two years' worth of UK government records will be released every year until 2022 and files from 1984 will be released by December. Read more about the
20-year rule.
The latest files detail the end of Mrs Thatcher's first term in office as victory in the Falklands War helped propel her to a second successive election triumph in June 1983.
At home, the Prime Minister faced an uncertain economic outlook while the US-led invasion of Grenada was one of a number of foreign policy challenges that year. The Cold War became colder with the arrival of American cruise missiles in Greenham Common amid a general deterioration in East-West relations.
View a selection of the newly-released UK
Cabinet Office and UK
Prime Minister's Office files, the
key events of 1983 and changes to the
British Cabinet in 1983.
British Cabinet - posts during October 1983
- Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
- Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe
- Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson
- Lord Chancellor Lord Hailsham
- Home Secretary Leon Brittan
- Secretary of Statefor Health and Social Security Norman Fowler
- Secretary of State for Defence Michael Heseltine
- Secretary of State for Scotland George Younger
- Secretary of State for Employment Tom King
- Secretary of State for Education and Science Sir Keith Joseph
- Secretary of State for Wales Nicholas Edwards
- Secretary of State for Trade (Trade & Industry) Norman Tebbit
- Secretary of State for Industry Patrick Jenkin
- Secretary of State for the Environment Patrick Jenkin
- Secretary of State for Northern Ireland James Prior
- Secretary of State for Energy Peter Walker
- Paymaster-General Cecil Parkinson
- Chief Secretary to the Treasury Peter Rees
- Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons William Whitelaw
- Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords John Biffen
- Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Lord Cockfield
- Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food Michael Jopling
Key events of 1983
25 October: American forces invade the Commonwealth island of Grenada.
GRENADA. Power struggle; US-led invasion; position of Governor-General; attitude of HMG; part 1
- Catalogue ref: PREM 19/1048
- Date: 29 March 1983 - 27 October 1983
GRENADA. Power struggle; US-led invasion; position of Governor-General; attitude of HMG; part 2
- Catalogue ref: PREM 19/1049
- Date: 28 October 1983 - 16 December 1983
This file continues the correspondence following the
US-led invasion of Grenada. It includes the diplomatic aftermath of the invasion, including reports from the UK's ambassador in Washington, Sir Oliver Wright. Wright described the internal US reaction, where Congress felt 'collectively insulted by the lack of consultation', the Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill, ('who has a remarkable nose, political as well as physical') deplored Reagan's 'gunboat diplomacy', and the media felt it was kept in the dark. The file also contains documents retrieved from Grenada, prior to the overthrow of Bishop, of which a Foreign Office official says, 'the inexorable build-up of pressure on Bishop to relinquish hold on real power or to see it wrested from him is striking.'