Daniel Owen Woolgar Jarvis (born 30 November 1972) is a British politician and former Army officer who has served as Minister of State for Security since July 2026, having previously held the role from 2024 to June 2026. He previously served as Secretary of State for Defence from June to July 2026. A member of the Labour and Co-operative Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Barnsley North, formerly Barnsley Central, since 2011.
Born in Nottingham, Jarvis attended Rushcliffe School in West Bridgford. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in international politics and strategic studies at University of Wales, Aberystwyth, before earning a Master of Arts (MA) from King's College, London. Jarvis was commissioned from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1997 into the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment. He was promoted to Captain in 2001 and Major in 2003. Jarvis was platoon commander with the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment during the Kosovo War, and in 2000 was deployed to Sierra Leone after Operation Barras. He served in the Iraq War during Operation Telic and in the War in Afghanistan during Operation Herrick. Jarvis was also deployed to Northern Ireland, before he resigned his commission in March 2011. In the 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) in the military division.
Jarvis joined the Labour Party while at university, and was his party's candidate for Barnsley Central during the 2011 by-election. He was elected for the constituency, succeeding Eric Illsley. In October of the same year, Jarvis joined the opposition frontbench under Ed Miliband as shadow minister for culture. In the 2013 shadow cabinet reshuffle, he was moved to become shadow youth justice and victims minister. Following Labour's defeat in the 2015 general election, Jarvis became shadow minister for foreign affairs, before leaving the frontbench upon the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader in September 2015. After his reelection as an MP at the 2017 general election, he was elected Mayor of the Sheffield City Region in 2018, serving until 2022.
After serving on the backbenches for eight years, Jarvis made a return to the shadow frontbench in the 2023 British shadow cabinet reshuffle as Shadow Minister for Security under Keir Starmer. Following Labour's victory in the 2024 general election, Jarvis was appointed to the government as Minister of State for Security. In September 2025, he was additionally appointed Minister of State in the Cabinet Office. After the resignation of John Healey, Jarvis was promoted to Secretary of State for Defence in June 2026. He was demoted the following month to his previous roles of security and cabinet office minister.
Daniel Owen Woolgar Jarvis was born in Nottingham on 30 November 1972, the son of a lecturer at a teacher-training college and a probation officer, both Labour Party members. 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. He graduated in 1996, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in international politics and strategic studies. He graduated with an MA in conflict, security and development from King's College, London, in 2011.
Jarvis was commissioned from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 9 August 1997 into the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment. He was promoted to captain on 10 October 2001 and to major on 31 July 2003. In the later part of his army career he was stationed at HQ Land Forces in Wilton and lived in Salisbury.
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.
Jarvis served in Iraq during Operation Telic and in Afghanistan during Operation Herrick. 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. He was also deployed to Northern Ireland.
He resigned his commission on 3 March 2011. In the 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (Military division).
Although his military service had precluded political activity, Jarvis had joined the Labour Party at the age of 18 while at university. Shortly before the 2010 general election, Jarvis was shortlisted for the Labour Party selection in the South Wales seat of Islwyn. He picked up support from one local would-be candidate who had not made the shortlist, 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. He became the first Labour candidate for the Barnsley Central seat since 1938 who was not born in Yorkshire.
On his selection, he resigned his commission in order to stand in the by-election; 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. 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.
Mayoralty and parliamentary career
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.
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. He joined the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee on 21 March. 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".
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. 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. He was made Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, before resigning upon the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader.