Timpson was born in Knutsford, Cheshire, in 1973. His father John is the chairman and owner of the Timpson chain of shoe repair and key-cutting shops, which has been in the family for five generations and has over 1000 stores in the UK and Ireland. Timpson grew up with a brother, sister and over 80 children fostered by his parents. He was educated at Uppingham School and Durham University, where he studied Politics before converting to Law. He became a barrister in 1998. From 1999, he has practised in Chester as a family law barrister.
In July 2007, Timpson was selected as the Conservative candidate for the Crewe and Nantwich constituency, an area which had been represented by the Labour MP Gwyneth Dunwoody since 1974. After Dunwoody died in April 2008, a by-election was called for May 2008. In the run-up to the by-election, Timpson was the target of a "toff" campaign by Labour, trying to paint him as "a rich man" who would not "understand the problems that people face day-to-day" in contrast to their candidate, Gwyneth Dunwoody's daughter Tamsin Dunwoody. The Conservative campaign focused on local issues, such as crime and antisocial behaviour, closure of post offices and problems at Leighton Hospital, where two women in labour were turned away, as well as national issues - referring to Dunwoody as "Gordon Brown's candidate" and capitalising on dissatisfaction with the Labour government, in particular the removal of the 10% tax rate. On 22 May 2008, Timpson was elected MP, gaining 20,539 votes, a swing from Labour of 17.6%. This was the Conservatives' first gain in a by-election since 1982. He made his maiden speech in the House of Commons on 16 June 2008. Timpson served on the Joint Committee on Human Rights and the Children, Schools and Families Select Committee. He is a Vice-President of Conservative Friends of Poland.
2010 to 2017
Following his re-election on 7 May 2010, Timpson was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary of Theresa May, the Home Secretary. He was appointed as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families at the Department for Education in September 2012. Timpson was named "Minister of the Year" in 2014 for pushing through reforms increasing the age of leaving foster care from 18 to 21, an initiative he had originally championed as a backbench committee chair. He credited his childhood experiences of living with a large family of fostered children. He was re-elected in Crewe and Nantwich at the 2015 general election. On 11 May 2015, four days later, David Cameron announced he would become Minister of State for Children and Families at the Department for Education. Timpson voted for Remain in the 2016 EU membership referendum. He lost his seat at the 2017 general election by 48 votes after three recounts.
Having lost his former seat of Crewe and Nantwich in 2017, Timpson was successfully selected as the Conservative Party's candidate for the neighbouring seat Eddisbury in the 2019 general election. He defeated Antoinette Sandbach.
Personal life
In June 2002, Timpson married Julia Still in south Cheshire. Since then he has lived in Cheshire with his wife and four children, Sam, Elizabeth, Lydia, Nell. He has completed 15 marathons, including the New York City Marathon in 2007 and the London Marathon in 2008, raising over £15,000. Outside politics Timpson is a fan of football, both watching and playing.
