CABINET PAPERS
Complete classes from the CAB & PREM series in the Public Record Office
Series Three: CAB 128 & CAB 129 - Cabinet Conclusions & Cabinet Memoranda, 1945 and following

Part 6: The Wilson Government, January 1969 - May 1970

CAB 128 - General Character

CAB 128 contains the minutes, or ‘Conclusions’, of the Cabinet Meetings taken down by the Secretary of the Cabinet; as such they provide an excellent record as to the main concerns and priorities of the government.

For every meeting held by the Cabinet there is a title page giving the time, place and date of the meeting, a list of who attended and a reference number. The next page is usually an agenda listing the topics covered in the meeting, although this information is occasionally put on the title page if there are only one or two items to be covered. The minutes themselves then follow, with each item discussed at the meeting being noted in a brief summary along with a record of any decisions reached.

Each meeting is assigned a unique reference number which can be found at the beginning of each title page. The first two letters identify the papers as belonging to the Cabinet Conclusions series, “CC” prefixes minutes belonging to the Wilson government. The number in brackets refers to the specific year, and the following number indicates the meeting. Thus CC (69) 27 would be the Minutes of the twenty-seventh Meeting of the Wilson Cabinet held in 1969.

The Detailed Listing for CAB 128 provided in this guide gives the date and reference number for each meeting, as well as an indication of the number of items discussed and the Public Record Office piece number. The Public Record Office piece number refers to the bound volume in which the minutes are contained and is given as a heading with the range of material held within that volume; ie CAB 128/44 Cabinet Conclusions, January-December 1969 (Meetings 1-61). This is followed by a chronological list of the minutes themselves with their original Cabinet reference numbers, the number of items discussed, as well as the date of the meeting.

For example: CC (69) 27: 1-6 12 June 1969, refers to the Cabinet Minutes of the twenty-seventh meeting in 1969, held on 12 June, at which six items were discussed. The Detailed Listing provides the heading for each of the six items covered at this meeting.

An annual index of the main subjects discussed in the Cabinet Conclusions is also included in each volume and can usually be found at the beginning of each year’s run of documents.

As well as the normal Conclusions, CAB 128 also contains a number of ‘Confidential Annexes’ and ‘Most Confidential Records’. These minutes are regarded as being particularly sensitive and not suitable for general distribution and so were kept separate from the normal run of Cabinet Conclusions. These are listed in the Detailed Listing under their appropriate piece numbers and include a title referring to their contents.

The following sample document provides the full text of the Cabinet Conclusions: CC (70) 5: the Minutes of the fifth Cabinet Meeting in 1970, held on 3 February, to discuss the Draft Green Paper on the Reorganisation of the National Health Service, the Draft White Paper on the United Kingdom Application for Membership of the EEC, and an item on Industrial Affairs: the Post Office: Pay Negotiations and Financial Objective.

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