Friday, May 14, 2010

East Ham MP Stephen Timms attacked at work

Shocking news this afternoon that Newham MP, Stephen Timms, had been stabbed twice in the stomach by a “21 year woman” at his Friday surgery in Becton.

I was contacted by a local reporter who asked me in a serious tone “have you heard the news about Stephen Timms”? I hadn’t - and this statement made my stomach sink. So finding out that he was stable and conscious at the Royal London hospital after being assaulted was actually a bit of a relief.

Picture is of Stephen at the East Ham General election declaration last week (third from left) where the hardworking and popular local MP won with the largest Parliamentary majority in the UK.

Check out this BBC report - my thoughts for now are with Stephen, his family and his Parliamentary team. 

It is absolutely crucial to our democracy that our elected representatives carry out surgeries but I think the circumstances of this attack should be carefully investigated and any lessons learnt - and solutions implemented. 

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I see one tory has put up a tweet saying thats what you get for broken Britain.

Idiot

Hope Stephen he gets better soon

John Gray said...

A simply dispicable comment.

Anonymous said...

What makes you think that Mr Stephen Timms office is not to blame?

I am sure this woman must have a serious issue. For those of us that have written to Mr Stephen Timms will known that some of the replies from this office are simply "fob off" and uncaring messages and totally unhelpful.

I noted that one of Mr Timms assistants is a young 22 years old. How can a young person have any life experience to deal with constituents problems?

There are two victims here, both Mr Timms and this woman, clearly she must be at the end of her tether, if she felt this is the only course of action open to her.

John Gray said...

Hi anon

Another despicable comment? What is wrong with you?

Nothing “justifies” stabbing anyone.

From press reports it was I believe the “22 year old” assistant who disarmed the assailant.

He seemed to deal with this life experience pretty well.

Unknown said...

Obviously everyones thoughts go out to Stephen Timms and his family. However his attacker Roshonara Choudhary a 21 year old from Beckton obviously had an issue with him and brought two knives to settle it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8684685.stm
The obvious explaination is a mental health issue; but we should not always assume the obvious.

Anonymous said...

We can only send our sincere wishes for the speedy and complete recovery from the awful attack on his person last week. We have had several times had much to thank him for, in solving issues others did not have the interest to look into, and we greatly appreciate his honesty and integrity.

Val and Den Heudebourck.

John Gray said...

Hi Val and Den

I am sure that Stephen's agent Unmesh will pass on your kind remarks.