Jarvis helped deliver the long-awaited Defense Investment Plan (DIP), which allocated extra money to UK defense after taking over from the MoD. But the plan remains dependent The next government to get big savings to release it.
In his inauguration speech, Burnham said he had not yet chosen his Cabinet, and a government official – who is not one of the figures mentioned above – said incumbent ministers had not been given any indication of whether they would remain in office.
However, if the new prime minister chooses to remove Jarvis, it could cause anger in the MoD after recent leadership changes.
One Labor MP with a background in security said “it’s hard to think of anyone better qualified” for the job than Jarvis, and that another major crisis “had no military interest at all.”
A second Labor MP connected to the industry said the move would not provide the “calm” needed at a critical time.
The same MPs said Streeting had been put forward as a potential successor to Jarvis, having previously been linked with the job of foreign secretary. The party’s “soft left” MPs have been lobbying against the former health secretary being handed a serious domestic policy brief.
