Major
Dan Jarvis
MBE MP
Official portrait, 2020
Member of Parliament
for Barnsley Central
Assumed office
3 March 2011
Preceded byEric Illsley
Majority3,571 (9.7%)
2023–presentSecurity
2015–2015Foreign Affairs
2013–2015Youth Justice and Victims
2011–2013Culture
Mayor of South Yorkshire
Sheffield City Region (2018–2021)
In office
7 May 2018 – 8 May 2022
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byOliver Coppard
Personal details
Born
Daniel Owen Woolgar Jarvis

(1972-11-30) 30 November 1972 (age 51)
Nottingham, East Midlands, England
Political partyLabour Co-op
Alma materAberystwyth University (BA)
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
King's College London (MA)
WebsiteOfficial website
Military service
Allegiance United Kingdom
Branch/service British Army
Years of service1997–2011
RankMajor
UnitParachute Regiment
Battles/warsOperation Banner
Kosovo War
Operation Telic
Operation Herrick

Daniel Owen Woolgar Jarvis MBE (born 30 November 1972) is a British politician and former Army officer who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Barnsley Central since 2011. A member of the Labour and Co-operative parties, he was Mayor of South Yorkshire, formerly Sheffield City Region, from 2018 to 2022. Jarvis served as a member of the Parachute Regiment from 1997 to 2011.

Early life

Daniel Owen Woolgar Jarvis was born in Nottingham on 30 November 1972,[1] the son of a lecturer at a teacher-training college and a probation officer, both Labour Party members.[2] He attended Lady Bay Primary School and then went on to study at Rushcliffe School.

He studied international politics at what was then the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.[3] He graduated in 1996, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in international politics and strategic studies.[4] He graduated with an MA in conflict, security and development from King's College, London, in 2011.

Military career

Jarvis was commissioned from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 9 August 1997 into the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment.[5] He was promoted to captain on 10 October 2001 and to major on 31 July 2003.[6][7] In the later part of his army career he was stationed at HQ Land Forces in Wilton and lived in Salisbury.[8]

In 1999 Jarvis was a platoon commander with the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment in Kosovo and was with Gen. Sir Mike Jackson during the Pristina Airport incident when Jackson refused the suggestion of his American NATO superior to confront Russian forces. Jarvis later described Jackson's comment to Wesley Clark that he was "not going to start World War Three for you" as a "very surreal moment in my life". Jarvis then served as Jackson's personal staff officer. In 2000 he was deployed to Sierra Leone in the aftermath of Operation Barras to help the army learn the lessons of the kidnap of a group of troops by an armed rebel group.[3]

Jarvis served in Iraq during Operation Telic and in Afghanistan during Operation Herrick.[9] He was deployed to Afghanistan twice, first as a member of the team making the first reconnaissance trips to Helmand Province in 2005 to 2006, in preparation for a decision on whether to commit British troops there. The second deployment was a six-month tour as a company commander with the Special Forces Support Group, leading a company of 100 troops.[3] He was also deployed to Northern Ireland.[10]

He resigned his commission on 3 March 2011.[11] In the 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (Military division).[12]

Early political career

Although his military service had precluded political activity, Jarvis had joined the Labour Party at the age of 18[13] while at university.[14] Shortly before the 2010 general election, Jarvis was shortlisted for the Labour Party selection in the South Wales seat of Islwyn.[15] He picked up support from one local would-be candidate who had not made the shortlist,[16] but he was not selected.

Jarvis was selected as the Labour candidate for Barnsley Central on 27 January 2011, following the resignation of Eric Illsley who stood down after being convicted of fraud for his part in the United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal. An eliminating ballot was held and at the penultimate stage Jarvis was tied with local councillor Linda Burgess, each several votes behind Richard Burgon. London Regional Director, Ken Clark, put two pieces of paper into the hat of Phil Dilks, the Press Officer: one that read "Loser" and one "Winner". Burgess, in going first, picked out the paper reading "Loser", and Jarvis won. In the final stage he picked up most of Burgess' votes, and won selection.[1] He became the first Labour candidate for the Barnsley Central seat since 1938 who was not born in Yorkshire.[17]

On his selection, he resigned his commission in order to stand in the by-election;[3] he gave his campaign the codename 'Operation Honey Badger', referring to a famously fierce animal and signifying his determination to fight for the people of Barnsley.[13] Jarvis found that his Nottingham origins put off some Barnsley voters, who remembered the fact that Nottinghamshire miners did not join the 1984–85 miners' strike, although he had been 12 at the time.[14]

Parliamentary career

Jarvis in 2017

He was elected for Barnsley Central with a 60.8% share of the vote on a turnout of 36.5% in the by-election held on 3 March 2011.[18]

During his maiden speech on the 2011 budget, Jarvis called for a change in economic policy including "a plan to get jobs and to help families feeling the squeeze". He also referred to Parachute Regiment colleagues who had been killed in action and argued that the UK and US should put forward reconciliation in Afghanistan.[19] He joined the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee on 21 March.[20] Jarvis spoke in a debate about NHS reforms in May 2011, paying emotional tribute to the doctors and nurses who cared for his wife, who had died the previous year, and feared an "ideological free-market agenda" which he said would undermine "all that is great about the NHS".[21]

In October 2011, Jarvis was appointed shadow arts minister, part of the shadow culture, media and sport team led by Harriet Harman; he moved to become shadow youth justice and victims minister in Labour leader Ed Miliband's October 2013 shadow cabinet reshuffle.

Following the Labour Party's defeat in the 2015 general election, and the resignation of Ed Miliband, media speculation about candidates for the party's leadership election included Dan Jarvis alongside several other MPs.[22] However, he quickly announced that he was not going to run, saying that he needed to put his young family first; he had recently remarried after losing his first wife to cancer.[23]

Jarvis voted along with 66 other Labour MPs for military action in Syria against ISIL in December 2015, arguing that the decision was "finely balanced" but that he did not believe the UK could pursue existing operations against ISIS without being able to attack ISIS's command centres on the other side of the Syrian border.[24][25] He had previously opposed military action against the Assad regime in Syria in 2013.[26]

Jarvis campaigned for a remain vote in the European Union membership referendum, whilst his constituency was heavily in favour of Brexit.[27] Jarvis voted to trigger Article 50, stating that the referendum result and his own constituents' views must be respected rather than ignored.[28][29]

In the 2023 British shadow cabinet reshuffle, he was appointed Shadow Minister for Security.[30]

Mayoralty

Jarvis was elected Mayor of the Sheffield City Region in 2018.[31] Upon taking office, he became entitled to the style of Mayor.[32] On 20 September 2021 he announced he would not be standing for re-election at the 2022 South Yorkshire mayoral election.[33] He will remain an MP.[34]

Personal life

Jarvis met his first wife, Caroline, in 2000, when she was working as a personal chef for the family of General Sir Mike Jackson. Their first child was born in 2003, three days before Jarvis was deployed to Iraq; their second child was born in 2004. Caroline Jarvis was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2006; she died at the age of 43 in July 2010.[2][14] In 2013 Jarvis married a freelance graphic designer, Rachel Jarvis, and the couple had a child.[2][35] Jarvis is also an author with his memoir, A Long Way Home, first published in 2020. The book chronicles his time in the British Army and he dealt with the diagnosis and untimely death of Caroline Jarvis. In 2020, the book was named Best Memoir at the Parliamentary Book Awards 2020.

Honours

Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)
NATO Medal for Kosovo
General Service Medal
Iraq Medal
OSM for Afghanistan
Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal 2002

References

  1. ^ a b Profile, The House Magazine, 2 May 2011, p. 26
  2. ^ a b c Rice, Xan (9 March 2015). "From war to Westminster: is Labour's Dan Jarvis a future Prime Minister?". New Statesman. London. Archived from the original on 15 January 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d "Labour victor Dan Jarvis is former Parachute Regiment officer". The Daily Telegraph. London. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 7 March 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2011.
  4. ^ "People". Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
  5. ^ "No. 54899". The London Gazette (Supplement). 22 September 1997. p. 10725.
  6. ^ "No. 56446". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 January 2002. p. 173.
  7. ^ "No. 57018". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 August 2003. pp. 9722–9725.
  8. ^ Blake, Morwenna (4 March 2011). "Former soldier from Salisbury elected as Barnsley MP". Salisbury Journal. Archived from the original on 11 March 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2011.
  9. ^ "Hero soldier tells of the family tragedy which spurred on election attempt". Sheffield Star. 24 February 2011. Archived from the original on 26 February 2011. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  10. ^ "War hero Dan Jarvis is Labour candidate for by-election". Metro. 29 January 2011. Archived from the original on 5 March 2011. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
  11. ^ "No. 59749". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 April 2011. p. 6389.
  12. ^ "No. 59808". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 2011. p. 6.
  13. ^ a b Wainwright, Martin (4 March 2011). "Dan Jarvis a dream candidate, say Barnsley's Labour activists". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 22 April 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  14. ^ a b c "Dan Jarvis: The grieving soldier on a quick march to the Commons". The Sunday Times. London. 6 March 2011. p. 5.
  15. ^ "Islwyn councillors quit Labour over shortlist". South Wales Argus. Newport. 1 March 2010. Archived from the original on 30 April 2011. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  16. ^ "'I'm backing Labour' – shortlist hopeful". South Wales Argus. Newport. 6 March 2010. Archived from the original on 8 March 2010. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  17. ^ "Dan Jarvis – a surprise choice for Labour in Barnsley". BBC News. 28 January 2011. Archived from the original on 11 February 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  18. ^ "Labour win Barnsley Central by-election". BBC News. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 4 March 2011. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  19. ^ "Maiden speech of Dan Jarvis MP – in full". Barnsley Chronicle. 24 March 2011. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
  20. ^ "Votes and Proceedings" (PDF). House of Commons. 21 March 2011. p. 852. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  21. ^ Casci, Mark (10 May 2011). "Lansley defiant over NHS reforms". Yorkshire Post. Leeds. Archived from the original on 12 October 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
  22. ^ Wintour, Patrick (8 May 2015). "Ed Miliband resigns as Labour leader". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  23. ^ "Dan Jarvis says he won't run". Daily Mirror. London. 10 May 2015. Archived from the original on 11 May 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  24. ^ Jarvis, Dan (1 December 2015). "The case for action against Isil in Syria outweighs the case for inaction". New Statesman. London. Archived from the original on 12 December 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  25. ^ Stone, Jon (3 December 2015). "The 66 Labour MPs who voted for bombing in Syria listed". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 13 December 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  26. ^ "Syria debate: how did your MP vote?". The Daily Telegraph. London. 30 August 2013. Archived from the original on 24 December 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  27. ^ Kotecha, Sima (9 May 2016). "The Remain MP and his Eurosceptic town". BBC News. Archived from the original on 30 October 2018. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
  28. ^ "European Union: Brexit & Article 50". danjarvis.com. Archived from the original on 7 March 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  29. ^ "Barnsley votes to LEAVE the EU". itv.com. Archived from the original on 7 March 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  30. ^ Belger, Tom (5 September 2023). "Labour reshuffle: Starmer unveils six new shadow ministers of state". LabourList. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  31. ^ "Labour MP wins South Yorkshire mayor vote". BBC News. 4 May 2018. Archived from the original on 7 May 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  32. ^ Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, s 107A(5).
  33. ^ Jarvis, Dan [@DanJarvisMP] (20 September 2021). "It's a huge privilege to serve as the first South Yorkshire Mayor and I'm proud of all we've achieved, but I won't be standing again next May" (Tweet). Retrieved 20 September 2021 – via Twitter.
  34. ^ "Dan Jarvis: MP to step down as South Yorkshire Mayor". BBC News. 20 September 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  35. ^ "Jarvis, Daniel Owen Woolgar, (born 30 Nov. 1972), MP (Lab) Barnsley Central, since March 2011; Mayor, Sheffield City Region, since 2018 | WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO". www.ukwhoswho.com. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U254788. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 6 January 2020.

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