A STUDENT who plunged a knife into a Labour MP in a bid to kill him after being inspired by a radical al Qaida cleric was today jailed for life with a minimum term of 15 years.

Roshonara Choudhry, 21, stabbed Stephen Timms twice in the stomach after watching online jihadi sermons by US-born extremist Anwar al-Awlaki, who was linked to last week’s air cargo bomb plot.

Her attack is thought to be the first al Qaida-inspired attempt to assassinate a politician on British soil.

She knifed East Ham MP Mr Timms as he held a constituency surgery at the Beckton Globe community centre in east London on May 14.

Smiling and pretending she was going to shake hands as she approached him, she then sunk the knife into his body.

After being overpowered and arrested, she told detectives the stabbing was “punishment” and “to get revenge for the people of Iraq’’, the Old Bailey heard.

Another knife was found in her bag which she said she had planned to use if the first one broke.

Choudhry, of Central Park Road, East Ham, east London, was found guilty of attempted murder and two counts of having an offensive weapon.

Mr Timms, 55, has since made a full recovery and gave evidence at the trial.