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Stephen Timms

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Stephen Timms

Sir Stephen Creswell Timms (born 29 July 1955) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Ham, formerly Newham North East, since 1994. A member of the Labour Party, he has served as Minister of State for Social Security and Disability since July 2024.

Timms served in the New Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown under several portfolios. He served for three periods as Financial Secretary to the Treasury; from 1999 to 2001, 2004 to 2005, and 2008 to 2010. As Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Timms attended Cabinet from 2006 to 2007.

In May 2010, Timms survived an attempted murder by Islamist 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 the Official Opposition frontbench as Shadow Minister for Employment, and later served in the Shadow cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. He returned to the backbenches in September 2015.

Stephen Timms was born on 29 July 1955 in Oldham, Lancashire, to Ronald James Timms, an engineer, and Margaret Joyce Timms, a teacher. He was educated at Farnborough Grammar School in Farnborough, Hampshire, before studying mathematics at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he gained a degree in mathematics in 1977 and an MPhil in operational research in 1978.

Before entering politics, Timms worked in the telecommunications industry for 15 years, first for Logica from 1978 to 1986, and then for Ovum 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 the Little Ilford Ward on Newham London Borough Council in a by-election in 1984, and served as Leader of the Council from 1990 to 1994.

At the 1994 Newham North East by-election, Timms was elected to Parliament as MP for Newham North East with 75% of the vote and a majority of 11,838.

Prior to the 1997 general election, Timms' constituency of Newham North East was abolished, and replaced with East 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.

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