Who is Dan Jarvis, Labour’s new Defence Secretary?

Dan Jarvis has been one of the central figures of Labour politics since being elected in 2011. 

He was what was then a much rarer type of Labour politician, coming from a military background. He joined the Labour Party aged 18 at university, but was restricted from political activity while serving in the parachute regiment. He served in Kosovo, Iraq, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan and Northern Ireland. 

READ MORE: John Healey resigns as Defence Secretary in row over military spending

Jarvis was shortlisted but not selected for the seat of Islwyn at the 2010 election and then entered Parliament in 2011 when he won the Barnsley Central by-election, becoming the first serving Army officer since the Second World War to resign his commission in order to contest a Commons seat.

Within the Labour Party, Jarvis has held a series of front bench roles, serving as a shadow arts minister and later shadow youth justice and victims minister under Ed Miliband. 

Beyond Westminster, Jarvis was selected in 2018 as Labour’s candidate for the newly created South Yorkshire mayoralty and went on to become the region’s first mayor serving both as Mayor and MP having sucessfully challenged the Party’s ruling he could not do both.

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Long regarded by some within Labour as a potential future leader, Jarvis has repeatedly attracted speculation about leadership bids but has chosen instead to focus on his parliamentary and mayoral responsibilities. 

He was appointed Shadow Minister for Security in 2023 and took on the ministerial role when Labour were elected in July 2024 adding a role in the Cabinet Office in the 2025 September reshuffle. 

He was appointed Defence Secretary on 11th June 2026 following the resignation of John Healey.

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