Former Cabinet minister Stephen Timms stabbed as he meets constituents

The 21-year-old woman was held after the incident at the Labour MP's meeting in Kingsford Way, Beckton, east London, this afternoon.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: "Police were called at 3.20pm today following reports of a man in his 50s stabbed at Kingsford Way, east London.

"Police and ambulance attended.

"He has been taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

"A 21-year-old woman was arrested at the scene and is currently in custody at an east London police station."

A spokeswoman for Barts and the London NHS Trust said: "Stephen Timms MP was taken to the Royal London this afternoon after being stabbed in the abdomen and is in a stable condition."

In 2000 Liberal Democrat MP Nigel Jones was wounded and his aide, Andrew Pennington, was stabbed to death in a frenzied sword attack during a constituency surgery at the party's office in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

Mr Jones, a married father of three, was conducting his weekly surgery when he received lacerations to his hands and arms after fending off blows from Robert Ashman, who was jailed for manslaughter and attempted murder.

It is understood the former minister was attacked during a surgery at his East Ham constituency.

Mr Timms is a former financial secretary to the Treasury and minister for digital Britain.

Mr Timms holds a regular surgery at the Beckton Globe Library in Kingsford Way.

A Labour Party source confirmed they understood that Mr Timms had been stabbed during an event in his East Ham constituency and was recovering in hospital.

Mr Timms, 54, has been MP for the constituency - and previously for Newham North East - since 1994.

He held jobs in the Labour administration throughout its 13 years in power, first as a parliamentary aide and then in ministerial posts as financial secretary to the Treasury and in the Departments for Social Security, Education, Trade and Industry and Work and Pensions.

He joined the Cabinet in 2006 as chief secretary to the Treasury - effectively Chancellor Gordon Brown's second-in-command, with responsibility for keeping departmental budgets under control.

After Mr Brown became Prime Minister in 2007, he was dropped from the Cabinet and made competitiveness minister in the Business Department, before moving back to the Department for Work and Pensions and then returning to his old job of financial secretary to the Treasury in 2008.

Never a flashy performer or household name, he has been regarded as a safe pair of hands on issues like the economy, pensions and business.

His personal popularity in his constituency is reflected by the fact that he secured a 7.7% swing from the Conservatives in last week's election, when Labour was generally losing ground across the country.

He won a remarkable 70.4% of the vote and his 27,826 majority is the largest in the new House of Commons.

Married to Hui-Leng Lim, he describes himself as a Christian Socialist and is Labour's vice-chairman for faith groups.

Mr Timms has regularly spoken out against knife crime in his constituency, particularly among young people.

In 2006, he spoke at an event to mark the death of 15-year-old Charlotte Polius, who was stabbed while walking in the street the previous year.

He supported Labour legislation which gave teachers the power to search pupils for weapons and raised the age at which a knife could be purchased legally to 18.