As mentioned on Reddit (http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/bo623/i_wrote_to_...), this may likely be a screw-up by a secretary, as the letter does make sense aside from this problem.
From wikipedia: Timms read Mathematics at Emmanuel College, Cambridge where he gained an MA in Mathematics in 1977 and an MPhil in Operational Research in 1978. Before entering politics, Timms worked in the telecommunications industry for 15 years.
It sounds like he would have enough technical background and experience to know what he was talking about in this case.
I don't know anything about this particular case or politician, but I sure hope some people go into government/politics in the hopes of being able to change something for the good, rather than merely because they couldn't make it big in industry.