Margaret Thatcher’s personal papers have been accepted as a donation to the country in lieu of around £1m in inheritance tax.
The papers are said to include accounts of some dramatic moments in her premiership and are due to be released on Thursday.
Thatcher’s children, Sir Mark and Carol, are among those to benefit from the arrangement as it means the overall inheritance tax bill on her £4.7m estate will be reduced.
The offer of the papers was accepted by the Arts Council, which is run by Sir Peter Bazalgette, after an independent valuation.
John Whittingdale, the new Conservative culture, media and sport secretary, is an ardent Thatcherite who served as political secretary to the former prime minister but he was not involved in the decision.
One insider told the Telegraph: “It’s wonderful that these papers have been saved for the nation rather than going to America, which was the alternative.
“The scheme has allowed Lady Thatcher’s heirs to reduce their tax bill, but in truth it was a highly altruistic decision by them because they could have got more for the papers in the US.”
The documents will be part of a public archive at Churchill College, Cambridge and published online.
Good that Carol and Mark Thatcher turned down lucrative offer from American University so that Thatcher's papers will remain at Cambridge
— margot james (@margot_james_mp) June 18, 2015
Some Tory MPs started tweeting their support, with Margot James saying it was good that the Thatchers had turned down a more lucrative offer from a US university. But the decision may prove controversial in some quarters given the tightness of the public finances.
