The grass doesn’t grow under Dan Jarvis’s feet. In January 2011, he was a major in the paras with years of experience as a commanding officer in Kosovo and Afghanistan under his belt. Two months later, he walked across Westminster bridge “contemplating the next phase of my life” as he entered parliament as MP for Barnsley Central.
And a Labour MP at that: Dan Jarvis isn’t just unusual in being a member of parliament who’s had an actual job – and a dangerous, difficult and highly responsible job, at that – he’s also that rare beast, an ex-army man who’s also a lefty. Isn’t voting Conservative actually part of the curriculum at Sandhurst?
“If I might say so, I think that is a little bit out of date,” he says. “The thing about the army is that you are part of the team; by working together collectively you can get more done than if you try and do it on your own. And that ethos is pretty similar to the Labour party – that belief in the strength of collective action or working together to get things done.”
By October 2011, he was in the shadow cabinet. And three years on, his name is being mentioned as a possible contender for the leadership. Even the Spectator has pegged him as Labour’s next Tony Blair: a centrist with an ability to appeal beyond the party’s core voters.
It’s not hard to see why. “I think it’s an important point that increasingly the public want their MPs to have had some real-life experience,” he says. And he’s had more than his fair share of that. In 2006, his wife, Caroline, was diagnosed with bowel cancer. She died in 2010, leaving him with two small boys. “It was a very difficult time and it was a very big decision afterwards for me to commit to politics. Everybody without exception said to me: ‘You’ll never be selected in Barnsley, they’ve always had a miner for 75 years or more, you’ve got no chance, don’t waste your time.’ I sort of listened to all their advice, nodded sagely then ignored it.”
But then he’s nothing if not his own man. He nicknamed his campaign “Operation Honey Badger” and ran it on military lines. The only thing I know about the honey badger, I say, is that it’s a fearless predator and if threatened goes for its opponent’s testicles.
He laughs. “It’s a rock-solid Labour seat but it was very clear from day one, I was not going to take people for granted.” He knocked on “literally thousands of doors”, became the first non-Yorkshireman in the seat since 1938 and won an increased majority. If I were Ed Miliband, I’d be watching out for the honey badger.
THREE MORE TO WATCH
• Leader of the Lib Dems in Wales, Kirsty Williams is seen as a standout politician. Some think she’ll be brought over from the Welsh assembly post-general election to lead the Lib Dems.
• Tory MP, doctor and health minister Dan Poulter is a huge asset to Jeremy Hunt. Expect him to rise up the ranks in 2015.
• Tulip Siddiq is Labour’s candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn at the general election, following the retirement of Glenda Jackson. She is the niece of the PM of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, and worked on Ed Miliband’s leadership campaign.
