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The Right Honourable  Stephen Timms  MP
Financial Secretary to the Treasury
Incumbent
Assumed office  5 October 2008
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Jane Kennedy
In office 12 September 2004 â€“ 6 May 2005
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Ruth Kelly
Succeeded by	John Healey
In office 29 July 1999 â€“ 8 June 2001
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Barbara Roche
Succeeded by	Paul Boateng
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In office 5 May 2006 â€“ 28 June 2007
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Des Browne
Succeeded by	Andrew Burnham
Member of Parliament for East Ham Newham North East (1994–1997)
Incumbent
Assumed office  9 June 1994
Preceded by	Ron Leighton
Majority	13,155 (33.2%)
Born	29 July 1955 (1955-07-29) (age 54) Oldham, United Kingdom
Political party	Labour
Alma mater	Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Religion	Christianity
Website	Official website

Stephen Creswell Timms (born 29 July 1955) is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for East Ham since 1994. He is also the Vice-Chair of the Labour Party, with particular responsibility for faith groups. Timms is currently the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, having been moved in Gordon Brown's reshuffle in October 2008. It is Timms' third time in the post, having been Financial Secretary between 1999 and 2001, and again between 2004 and 2005.

Early life

Timms was educated at Farnborough Grammar School (became Farnborough Sixth Form College) in Farnborough, Hampshire and read Mathematics at Emmanuel College, Cambridge where he gained an MA 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 1978-86 and then for Ovum from 1986-94, where he was the manager responsible for producing reports on the future of telecommunications. Timms was elected as a councillor for the Little Ilford Ward on Newham Council in a by-election in 1984 and served as Leader of the Council from 1990 to 1994.

Member of Parliament

In 1994 he was elected to Parliament as MP for Newham North East; for the next election, his constituency was merged with part of Newham South, and in 1997 he was elected MP for the resulting new constituency of East Ham.

In government

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

In 1998 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. He went on to serve as Minister of State for E-Commerce and Competitiveness and Minister of State for Energy, E-Commerce and Postal Services 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 has twice served as Financial Secretary to the Treasury, from 1999 to 2001 and September 2004 to May 2005.

In May 2006 he was promoted to the Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, serving until 28 June 2007, when he was dropped from the cabinet by new Prime Minister Gordon Brown. It was later announced that he had been appointed Minister of State for Competitiveness at the newly created Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

Following the government reshuffle on 24 January 2008 as a result of the resignation of Peter Hain, Timms moved to the Department for Work and Pensions to become Minister for Employment and Welfare Reform. Tony McNulty replaced him there on 3 October 2008, and Timms returned to his former role as Financial Secretary to the Treasury. In August 2009, he was given additional responsibility for "Digital Britain".^[1] 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 broadly characterised as a stealth tax in the UK media.

Personal life

He describes himself as a "Christian Socialist". He married Hui-Leng Lim in 1986 and has lived in the East London Borough of Newham since 1979. He spoke in King's Church Catford in 2007.

See also

• Cabinet of the United Kingdom

External links

• Stephen Timms MP official site
• Department for Work and Pensions - Stephen Timms official profile
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Stephen Timms MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Stephen Timms MP
• Newham Labour Party Website
• BBC Politics

References