Stephen Timms, English politician, Minister of State for Competitiveness
Stephen Creswell Timms (born 29 July 1955) is a British politician who served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2006 to 2007. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for East Ham, formerly Newham North East, since 1994.
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. His attacker 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.