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Dan Jarvis announced tonight he would not be standing for the Labour leadership.

The former army major who served two tours in Afghanistan was considered one of the favourites for the job.

But an ally said he wanted to put his family first.

The Barnsley Central MP, who has three young children, recently remarried after losing his first wife Caroline to cancer.

Who is Dan Jarvis? Meet the Labour MP who terrifies the Tories

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The unnamed ally said: “Dan wants to help Labour in any way he can but he needs to put his children first.”

Mr Jarvis was seen as one of few people who could have reached out to Tory voters and stemmed the march of UKIP.

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He's an ex-army Major and Iraq War veteran

(Image: PA)

As an Army paratrooper, Major Dan Jarvis MBE served in Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

He was deployed to Afghanistan twice, first on recon missions to Helmand Province, followed by a six-month tour as a company commander with the Special Forces.

He resigned his commission in March 2011 following the death of his wife, Caroline, from cancer. He was awarded an MBE in the 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours list.

He's had a quick rise to party prominence

(Image: PA)

Jarvis joined the Labour party at 18, but had to put politics on hold while he served in the military.

He was selected for Barnsley Central after the resignation of Eric Illsley, who was convicted of fraud in the expenses scandal.

He ran a fierce campaign, which was nicknamed "Operation Honey Badger" after the notoriously ruthless and vicious mammal.

Jarvis was elected on a 60.8% share of the vote in the by-election, and made the move to Westminster.

He was almost immediately made Shadow Arts and Culture minister, and in his 2013 reshuffle, Ed Miliband named him Shadow Justice Minister.

What about the time he took on a mugger and won

In March, a man made the mistake of trying to mug ex-paratrooper Jarvis in London's King's Cross station.

He said: "This guy came up to me with a bottle and tried to kill me. I walked into the Tube and the man, who was clearly very drunk and aggressive, came over and said if I didn't give him my wallet he would break the bottle over my head.

"I said 'that's not going to happen' and we stood and faced each other off for what seemed like quite a long time.

"I had visions of us rolling around on the platform, but thankfully it didn't come to that."

The incident got tongues wagging around Westminster, earned him a nickname among insiders - the "steely messenger of death."