Stephen Timms MP turned down Jeremy Corbyn’s offer of a junior frontbench role.

The longstanding East Ham MP and was offered a role in the Labour Party’s treasury team on Monday, but rejected it saying now was a good time for him to step back from frontbench work.

“While Rachel Reeves has been on maternity leace I have been in the shadow cabinet as acting shadow secretary for work and pensions,” he said. “I have enjoyed 17 years on Labour’s frontbench, and have been the longest-serving frontbencher for the last year or two.

“But I couldn’t carry on forever and this struck me as a good point to step down and take up a different role in Parliament.”

Timms said that before returning to backbench duties, he would do all he could to assist the party in his role.

“I thanked Jeremy for the offer, and for the courtesy with which he made it,” he said. “I offered to help in any way I could during the transition.”