Official papers from the prime ministerial files of Margaret Thatcher were published online for the first time, yesterday.

The files, published on the National Archives website, include papers which passed over Lady Thatcher’s desk between May and December 1979, during her first year in power.

They contain details of preliminary ministerial discussions and briefing material on a range of contemporary issues, as well as the advice the Prime Minister received from Cabinet colleagues, civil servants and aides.

And they feature revealing handwritten notes and comments made in the margins by Lady Thatcher herself, which reflect her personal views on controversies of the time as well as her impatience with advisers whose thinking differed from her own.

One document submitted by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Geoffrey Howe is annotated with the biting remark: “This is a very poor paper and we can only charitably assume that the Treasury is ‘otherwise occupied’ at the present.”

On a Foreign Office briefing paper, Lady Thatcher wrote: “I despair of FO memos. This is jabberwocky to me – what is it supposed to mean?”

And she sent back a paper on the Common Agricultural Policy with the instruction: “Please translate into English.”

In the margin of several papers is the single word “no” – often underlined – when proposals put forward by ministers and aides do not match up to the Prime Minister’s plans.

The release of the 133 files, in a joint project by the National Archives and the Margaret Thatcher Foundation, marks the 20th anniversary of Lady Thatcher’s departure from office in 1990.

Stephen Twigge of the National Archives said that the papers, which are searchable by keyword and cover issues ranging from economic policy to defence, the NHS and industrial relations, would be a valuable resource to historians and people with an interest in the Thatcher era.

“This series provides a unique insight into Thatcher’s characteristic tough-talking style of premiership in what is considered to be a significant year in modern history,” said Mr Twigge, the National Archives’ head of modern domestic, diplomatic and colonial records.

“By improving the accessibility and search potential of these valuable records, interesting nuggets and gems of information may be uncovered or revealed in the files, which may previously have been overlooked.

“The records often include comments written in the Prime Minister’s own hand, which can be very revealing about her reactions to memoranda and letters, giving insights into her whole approach to the job, her personal style and aspects of personality – mood and temperament.”

The National Archives intends to digitise further records from the Thatcher years once they have been opened under the 30-year rule.