DOWNING Street files revealing the truth about Sir Mark Thatcher’s secretive business dealings aided by his Prime Minister mother have been controversially sealed from public view.
The National Archives has released government records and notes of Cabinet meetings under the 30-year-rule, covering 1986 to 1988, the middle of Margaret Thatcher’s reign in No10.
Among them are behind-closed-doors discussions on the Tory government’s response to the AIDS crisis, East/West relations, plans for inner-city regeneration and economic and education policy.
But staying secret, certainly until 2053 and possibly forever, are the files that would reveal what really happened when Margaret Thatcher used her influence to help her wheeler-dealer son, Sir Mark, 62, in a £300m business deal.
The decision to keep the files closed was ultimately taken by former Culture Secretary John Whittingdale, who served as Mrs Thatcher’s political secretary in the last months of her tenure in No10.
Lib Dem leader Tim Farron urged the Cabinet Office to release the files.
He said: “Sunlight is the best disinfectant and this decision is ludicrous. If certain sections still compromise national security or foreign relations after all this time, they should be redacted.
“Given the topic, it seems more likely that this is a move to avoid embarrassment. There is no legitimate reason for these papers to not be in the public domain.”
Sir Mark has remained a controversial figure despite living outside the UK for more than 30 years. His international business dealings turned him from a failed accountant into a multimillionaire, often with the allegation he lined his pockets on his parentage.
He has denied his fortune came from commission from Britain’s then-biggest ever arms deal that saw the Saudi royal family pay British Aerospace £43bn over two decades - a deal signed by his mother.
Among the hundreds of records for potential release today are two entitled “Cementation contract: Mark Thatcher and the Omanis” covering the period from 1981 to 1988 which are listed as being “retained” for 65 years - meaning they will not be released until 2053 when Sir Mark would be aged 99.
Two other files - one entitled “Mark Thatcher and the Omanis; other allegations against Mark Thatcher” and “Request by Electronic Data Systems to employ Mark Thatcher” have been marked “temporarily retained” with no date for release.
The Cementation contract was a £300m deal that saw property conglomerate Cementation International - for which Sir Mark was working as a consultant - build a new university in Oman.
Other bidders for the contract complained that Mrs Thatcher used her influence with the Sultan of Oman to secure the work for her son’s firm.
Her private secretary at the time, Robin (now Lord) Butler, told Mrs Thatcher’s authorised biography he thought her conduct in relation to the deal “conveyed a whiff of corruption”.
He said: “She had wanted to see Mark right. She sought the deal for Mark. She excluded everyone from her talks with the Sultan.
“Mark was dealing with Brigadier Tim Landon who was the Sultan’s go-between. She behaved in a most peculiar way. I suspected the worst.”
Cementation admitted: “We did pay him [Sir Mark]. We used him because he is the Prime Minister’s son.”
The 1981 deal was exposed in the Observer three years later, with Thatcher unable to deny she knew her son would profit.
She told opponents she was “batting for Britain” in her dealings but, in the aftermath, Denis Thatcher effectively exiled Sir Mark, with him moving to the United States.
The Electronic Data Systems file is expected to contain information regarding the American computer giant’s use of Sir Mark.
He was appointed by the company while it was pitching for a £1.6m Department of Social Security contract - and while his mother was Prime Minister - leading to questions being asked in the Commons.
Labour leadership contender Owen Smith said last night: “The Tories should come clean over this mess.
“Just like their refusal to have a proper inquiry in to Orgreave, this is another example of them refusing to come clean over the kind of government Thatcher was running in the 1980s.”
And Plaid Cymru’s Culture spokesman Hywel Williams said: “I smell a very considerable rat.
“Why would they delay it unless there is something extremely embarrassing to Sir Mark Thatcher or possibly the memory of his mother?
“I can’t understand why they would do this.
“Given the extremely close connections between the British Establishment and various people in the Middle East, we can imagine there might be something of interest there to people like myself who are unhappy about those relations and the consequences for British foreign policy.
“It seems to me that this is a very unusual step.”
The National Archives receive files 60 days before they make them public, along with a list of what is and what is not to be released. That list is provided by Cabinet Office officials who have been through the files and, using criteria in the Public Records Act, advise on what should be suppressed.
Those decisions are then scrutinised by The Advisory Council on National Records and Archives before the ultimate sign-off is made by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, who was, in this case, John Whittingdale.
Mr Whittingdale began his political career as a bag carrier for Mrs Thatcher - described by others as her “toy boy” - before being appointed her Political Secretary in 1989.
He was given the OBE in her resignation honours list in 1990 and stayed by her side as Private Secretary until being elected as an MP in 1992.
Mr Whittingdale, who was replaced by Theresa May in her Cabinet reshuffle last week, was contacted last night for comment.
Under public records legislation, official files should be released to the National Archives in Kew, west London, after 20 years - the rules were changed from 30 years in 2013 - unless there are specific reasons for them not to be disclosed.
The Cabinet Office said a “small number” of records had been retained because they contained “personal data about individuals and sensitive information relating to other countries”.
“This is in line with the requirements of the Public Records Act,” a spokesman said.
Among the other files listed as being retained is a series of No10 papers about the royal family, including one entitled “Career of Prince Andrew Duke of York”, another entitled “The Prince of Wales’ Special Projects Unit” and a third marked “Procedures for the Royal Family taking up jobs and other commercial appointments”.
Also retained is a series of files relating to the Spycatcher case, which concerned the Government’s efforts to suppress the memoirs of former MI5 officer Peter Wright.
