Sir Stephen Timms | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Official portrait, 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minister of State for Social Security and Disability | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 8 July 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Keir Starmer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Mims Davies | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chair of theWork and Pensions Select Committee | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 29 January 2020 – 30 May 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Frank Field | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Debbie Abrahams | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chief Secretary to the Treasury | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 5 May 2006 – 28 June 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Des Browne | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Andy Burnham | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Member of Parliament forEast Ham Newham North East (1994–1997) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 9 June 1994 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Ron Leighton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Majority | 12,863 (33.9%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Stephen Creswell Timms (1955-07-29)29 July 1955 (age 70) Oldham, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Party | Labour | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Emmanuel College, Cambridge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | www | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sir Stephen Creswell Timms (born 29 July 1955) is a British politician who has been theMember of Parliament (MP) forEast Ham, formerlyNewham North East, since1994. A member of theLabour Party, he has served asMinister of State for Social Security and Disability since July 2024.[1][2]
Timms served in theNew Labour governments ofTony Blair andGordon Brown under several portfolios. He served for three periods asFinancial Secretary to the Treasury; from 1999 to 2001, 2004 to 2005, and 2008 to 2010. AsChief Secretary to the Treasury, Timms attendedCabinet from 2006 to 2007.
In May 2010,Timms survived an attempted murder byIslamist terrorist Roshonara Choudhry who stabbed him twice in the abdomen at his constituency surgery. Choudhry was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Timms served on theOfficial Opposition frontbench as Shadow Minister for Employment, and later served in theShadow cabinet asShadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. He returned to the backbenches in September 2015.
Stephen Timms was born on 29 July 1955 inOldham,Lancashire, to Ronald James Timms, an engineer, and Margaret Joyce Timms, a teacher.[3][4] He was educated atFarnborough Grammar School inFarnborough, Hampshire, before studying mathematics atEmmanuel College, Cambridge, where he gained a degree in mathematics in 1977 and anMPhil inoperational research in 1978.[5]
Before entering politics, Timms worked in thetelecommunications industry for 15 years, first forLogica from 1978 to 1986, and then forOvum from 1986 to 1994, where he worked as a manager responsible for producing reports on the future of telecommunications. He was elected as a councillor for theLittle Ilford Ward onNewham London Borough Council in aby-election in 1984, and served as Leader of the Council from 1990 to 1994.[5]
At the1994 Newham North East by-election, Timms was elected to Parliament as MP forNewham North East with 75% of the vote and a majority of 11,838.[6]
Prior to the1997 general election, Timms' constituency of Newham North East was abolished, and replaced withEast Ham. At the election, Timms was elected to Parliament as MP for East Ham with 64.6% of the vote and a majority of 19,358.[7]
Timms served as Parliamentary Private Secretary toAndrew Smith from May 1997 to March 1998, and later toMo Mowlam from March to July 1998.[8]
In 1998, Timms was appointedParliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Social Security, rising to Minister of State in that department in 1999.[8]
At the2001 general election, Timms was re-elected as MP for East Ham with an increased vote share of 73.1% and an increased majority of 21,032.[9] He was again re-elected at the2005 general election, with a decreased vote share of 53.9% and a decreased majority of 13,155.[10]
In May 2006, Timms was promoted to theCabinet asChief Secretary to the Treasury, a post in which he remained until 28 June 2007, when he was removed from the cabinet by new prime ministerGordon Brown.[5] It was later announced that he had been appointedMinister of State for Competitiveness at the newly createdDepartment for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
Following a government reshuffle on 24 January 2008, Timms moved to the Department for Work and Pensions, and became Minister for Employment and Welfare Reform.[11] On 3 October 2008, Timms returned to his former role as Financial Secretary to the Treasury.[5]
In August 2009, Timms was given additional responsibility forDigital Britain.[12] In September 2009, he announced plans for a tax of £6 per year to be levied on each phone account in the UK. At the time, this was characterised as astealth tax in the media. In April 2010, Timms' department made an embarrassing slip when a letter purporting to be from him mistakenly identifiedIP address as "intellectual property address".[13] According to the accountants' magazineAccountancy Age, he was highly regarded by finance professionals despite such gaffes.[14]
At the2010 general election, Timms was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 70.4% and an increased majority of 27,826.[15]
In February 2013 Timms abstained on the second reading of theMarriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013.[16][17][18] Subsequently, in May 2013 he voted against the bill's third and final reading, opposing the legalisation of same-sex marriage within England and Wales.[19]
Timms was again re-elected at the2015 general election with an increased vote share of 77.6% and an increased majority of 34,252.[20]
Following the2015 Labour leadership election, he was offered a junior shadowTreasury position by new leaderJeremy Corbyn but chose to turn it down and return to the backbenches.[21]
Timms supportedOwen Smith in the failed attempt to replaceJeremy Corbyn in the2016 Labour leadership election.[22]
At the snap2017 general election, Timms was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 83.2% and an increased majority of 39,883.[23][24] He was again re-elected at the2019 general election, with a decreased vote share of 76.3% and a decreased majority of 33,176.[25]
In April 2021, Timms praised the work of the controversial Jesus House Church onTwitter.[26] His tweet came after an official apology from Labour leaderKeir Starmer, who had admitted it had been a "mistake" to film a promotional video at the church when it had come to light that the pastor of the church, Agu Irukwu, had previously opposed same sex marriage and equality legislation.[27][28]LGBT+ Labour said they were "disappointed" to see Timms' tweet so soon after Starmer's apology, after Timms was criticised for supporting the "anti-LGBTQ+" church.[29]
On 23 August 2021, Prime MinisterBoris Johnson appointed Timms as the UK'strade envoy to Switzerland and Liechtenstein.[30]
Timms wasknighted in the2022 Birthday Honours for political and public service.[31]
At the2024 general election, Timms was again re-elected with a decreased vote share of 51.6% and a decreased majority of 12,863.[32]
On 14 May 2010, Timms was approached by 21-year-old femaleIslamist extremist Roshonara Choudhry, during aconstituency surgery at the Beckton Globe Library in Kingsford Way inBeckton.[33][34] Choudhry stabbed Timms twice in the abdomen with a 15cm (6-inch) kitchen knife, before being disarmed.[35] She stated that she had been influenced by watching sermons ofAnwar al-Awlaki, a leader ofal-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and that her attack was to punish Timms for voting for theIraq War, and seek revenge for the Iraqi people.[36][37][38]
He suffered "potentially life-threatening" wounds, including lacerations to hisliver and a perforation to his stomach.[39] Timms underwent emergency surgery at theRoyal London Hospital, from which he was discharged on 19 May.[40]
On 2 November 2010, Choudhry was found guilty of Timms'attempted murder. She was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 15 years.[39] After the court case, Timms said he was not bitter, but that forgiveness was not possible because his attacker showed no remorse. He has since sought the banning of incendiary material on popular internet sites "to protect other vulnerable young people from going down the same road."[41]YouTube removed some videos of al-Awlaki within hours of the sentence.[36][41]
Following the 2021murder of David Amess, Timms said in parliament that he would like to meet Choudhry, so "he can finally forgive her".[42]
Timms is anevangelical Christian.[43][44] He is passionate about Christians entering politics and is a keen supporter of Just Love, a social justice movement working with Christian students.[45] He has lived in theLondon Borough of Newham since 1979, and has been married to Hui-Leng Lim since 1986.[41]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forNewham North East 1994–1997 | Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forEast Ham 1997–present | Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1999–2001 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of State for Schools 2001–2002 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Financial Secretary to the Treasury 2004–2005 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chief Secretary to the Treasury 2006–2007 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Financial Secretary to the Treasury 2008–2010 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Acting 2015 | Succeeded by |
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| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
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