1. Sir Stephen Creswell Timms was born on 29 July 1955 and is a British Labour Party politician who has been Member of Parliament for East Ham, formerly Newham North East, since 1994.
21 Facts About Stephen Timms
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Stephen Timms has served as Minister of State for Social Security and Disability since July 2024.
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Stephen Timms served for three periods as Financial Secretary to the Treasury; from 1999 to 2001,2004 to 2005 and 2008 to 2010.
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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.
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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.
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Stephen Timms was born on 29 July 1955 in Oldham, Lancashire, to Ronald James Timms, an engineer, and Margaret Joyce Timms, a teacher.
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Stephen Timms 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.
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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.
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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.
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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 in 1999.
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In May 2006, Stephen Timms was promoted to the Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, a post in which he remained until 28 June 2007, when he was removed from the cabinet by new prime minister Gordon Brown.
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On 3 October 2008, Stephen Timms returned to his former role as Financial Secretary to the Treasury.
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In February 2013 Stephen Timms abstained on the second reading of the Marriage Act 2013.
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Stephen Timms supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour leadership election.
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Stephen Timms was knighted in the 2022 Birthday Honours for political and public service.
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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 in Beckton.
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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.
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Stephen Timms suffered "potentially life-threatening" wounds, including lacerations to his liver and a perforation to his stomach.
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Stephen Timms was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 15 years.
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Stephen Timms is passionate about Christians entering politics and is a keen supporter of Just Love, a social justice movement working with Christian students.
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Stephen Timms has lived in the London Borough of Newham since 1979, and has been married to Hui-Leng Lim since 1986.