21 Facts About Stephen Timms

Sir Stephen Creswell Timms was born on 29 July 1955 and is a British politician who served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2006 to 2007.

Stephen Timms served for three periods as Financial Secretary to the Treasury; from 1999 to 2001,2004 to 2005 and 2008 to 2010.

In May 2010, Stephen Timms survived an attempted murder by Islamist terrorist Roshonara Choudhry who stabbed him twice in the abdomen at his constituency surgery.

Stephen Timms's attacker was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Stephen 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.

Stephen Timms was educated at Farnborough Grammar School in Farnborough, Hampshire, and read mathematics at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he gained a degree in mathematics in 1977 and an MPhil in operational research in 1978.

Stephen Timms 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.

Stephen Timms was selected as the Labour candidate for the resulting by-election in June 1994.

Stephen Timms served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Andrew Smith from May 1997 to March 1998, and later to Mo Mowlam from March to July 1998.

In 1998, Stephen Timms was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Social Security, rising to Minister of State in that department the following year.

Stephen Timms served as Minister of State for and Competitiveness at the Department of Trade and Industry; Minister of State for School Standards at the Department for Education and Skills; Minister of State for Pensions at the Department for Work and Pensions; and served as Financial Secretary to the Treasury from 1999 to 2001, September 2004 to May 2005, and October 2008 to May 2010.

In May 2006, Stephen Timms was promoted to the Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the chancellor's second-in-command with responsibility for department budget issues, a post in which he remained until 28 June 2007, when he was dropped from the cabinet by new prime minister Gordon Brown.

Stephen Timms was appointed to the role of Shadow Minister for Employment after the election of Ed Miliband as party leader.

When Rachel Reeves went on maternity leave after the 2015 general election, Stephen Timms took over as acting Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in the Shadow Cabinet of Harriet Harman.

Stephen Timms supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour leadership election.

Stephen Timms was knighted in the 2022 Birthday Honours for political and public service.

On 14 May 2010, Stephen Timms was approached by 21-year-old female Islamist extremist Roshonara Choudhry, during a constituency surgery at the Beckton Globe Library in Kingsford Way, Beckton, East London.

Stephen Timms stated that she had been influenced by watching sermons of Anwar al-Awlaki, a leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and that her attack was to punish Timms for voting for the Iraq War, and seek revenge for the Iraqi people.

Stephen Timms was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 15 years.

Stephen Timms is passionate about Christians entering politics and is a keen supporter of Just Love, a social justice movement working with Christian students.

Stephen Timms has lived in the London Borough of Newham since 1979, and has been married to Hui-Leng Lim since 1986.