Woman held after MP is stabbed twice in stomach

Stephen Timms, 54, was attacked shortly after 3pm at the Beckton Globe library in Kingsford Way, east London.

It is believed he was stabbed twice at the start of an interview with a woman who had made an appointment to see him. His attacker was detained by a security guard until police arrived.

The stabbing has reignited concerns over the safety of MPs. Parliamentary officials carried out a review of surgery practices following a samurai sword attack on former Lib Dem MP for Cheltenham Nigel Jones in 2000 during which his assistant Andrew Pennington was hacked to death.