Subjects include: the number of Labour peers in the House of Lords; South Africa; spending on the National Health Service; supplementary benefits; the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union; nuclear testing and arms control; pensions; the possible purchase of British Leyland by the trades unions; the funding of Sadler’s Wells theatre; crime prevention; the Westland affair [share dealing irregularities involving Westland Helicopter Company].

Other correspondents include Nigel Wicks, Principal Private Secretary, Timothy Flesher, Charles Powell and Mark Addison, Private Secretaries to Thatcher.