Cambridge: Thatcher Papers Released

7 October 2013, 12:00 | Updated: 7 October 2013, 13:10

The personal papers of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher have been published today in Cambridge.

Previously unseen personal papers for 1983 have been made available for the first time at Churchill College, Cambridge, and online from the Margaret Thatcher Foundation.

Highlights include:

Papers on the Franks report on the Falklands conflict, including Mrs Thatcher's heavily annotated copy of the report.

Detailed planning files for the 1983 General Election campaign.

Congratulation letters on the election victory from domestic figures such as Lord Carrington, as well as overseas leaders like President Reagan.

Papers, including MT's handwritten notes, on changes to key Cabinet positions in the reshuffle which followed the election victory and the resignation of Cecil Parkinson.

Insights into MT's post-election psychology and advice on how the honeymoon period would be followed by media attacks on her.

Papers on MT's election to the Fellowship of the Royal Society, following a rare contested election, including correspondence with her former Tutor Dorothy Hodgkin on the subject.

Intriguing notes on a thaw in East-West relations (before the era of Mr Gorbachev) and a "partly heretical" note sent from her personal advisor on foreign affairs suggesting a judicious distancing of British policy from the US in areas other than the Cold War.

Click here to visit the Margaret Thatcher Foundation website.