Stephen Timms

Stephen Timms has been an MP continuously since 1994, first representing the constituency of Newham North East, then for the newly created constituency of East Ham from 1997. Timms was born in Oldham and read Mathematics at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. After graduating, Timms worked in the telecommunications industry for 15 years, including as a manager for consultancy firm Ovum, where he was responsible for researching the future of the sector. He began his political career in 1984 when he was elected as a councillor for Little Ilford ward on Newham London Borough Council, rising to become leader of the council in 1990. In 1994, he became the Labour MP for Newham North East at the by-election caused by the death of Ron Leighton. He was re-elected as an MP for the new seat of East Ham in 1997. That year he was appointed as parliamentary private secretary in the Ministry of Employment, implementing Labour’s New Deal and was later promoted to social security secretary and then financial secretary to the Treasury. Following the 2001 general election, he became schools minister, in which role he helped set up Teach First. He went on to serve in a succession of ministerial posts, including two more stints as financial secretary, two periods in the Department for Work and Pensions, two posts in the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform, and a period as chief secretary to the Treasury. In May 2010, Timms was stabbed twice by Islamist extremist Roshonara Choudhry during a surgery in his constituency. She claimed this was “revenge” on behalf of the Iraqi people, as Timms had voted in support of the Iraq war in 2003. He suffered lacerations to his liver and a perforated stomach, and a police officer at the scene remarked that he “was extremely fortunate not to have been killed.” Timms made a full recovery, while his attacker was jailed for life. In the years since the attack, the MP has campaigned to limit access to online extremist material to prevent others from being radicalised. He served in Ed Miliband’s shadow cabinet as shadow employment minister and later served on the Education Committee. His most recent parliamentary activity was as a member of the Committee on Exiting the European Union, and he supports Sir Keir Starmer’s bid for the Labour leadership.