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

[5] 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, Timms moved to the Department for Work and Pensions, and became Minister for Employment and Welfare Reform.

[16][17][18] Subsequently, in May 2013 he voted against the bill's third and final reading, opposing the legalisation of same-sex marriage within England and Wales.

[20] Following the 2015 Labour leadership election, he was offered a junior shadow Treasury position by new leader Jeremy Corbyn but chose to turn it down and return to the backbenches.

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

[26] His tweet came after an official apology from Labour leader Keir Starmer, who had admitted it had been a "mistake" to film a promotional video at the church when it had come to light that the pastor of the church, Agu Irukwu, had previously opposed same sex marriage and equality legislation.

[29] On 23 August 2021, Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed Timms as the UK's trade envoy to Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

[35] She 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.

[36][37][38] He suffered "potentially life-threatening" wounds, including lacerations to his liver and a perforation to his stomach.

He has since sought the banning of incendiary material on popular internet sites "to protect other vulnerable young people from going down the same road.