Stephen Timms was appointed as Chief Secretary to the Treasury in May 2006 after serving as Minister for Pensions Reform in the Department for Work and Pensions. His previous Ministerial positions include Financial Secretary to the Treasury; Minister for e-Commerce and Competitiveness and Minister of State for Energy, e-Commerce and Postal Services in the Department for Trade and Industry; Minister of State for School Standards; and Minister of State and Parliamentary Under Secretary in the then Department for Social Security.

Stephen entered Parliament in 1994 as MP for Newham North East, and has been MP for East Ham since 1997. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Andrew Smith from May 1997 to March 1998, and to Mo Mowlam from March to July 1998.

Stephen was born in 1955. He was educated at Farnborough Grammar School and read mathematics at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He has lived in the East London Borough of Newham since 1979 and married Hui-Leng in July 1986. Before entering Parliament, Stephen worked in the telecommunications industry for 15 years, first for Logica and then for Ovum. He was elected to Newham Council in 1984 and served as Leader of the Council from 1990 to 1994.