Dan Jarvis: I am confident Andy Burnham will make the right choices for his Cabinet

“I just get on with the job and leave it to others to decide,” the Barnsley North MP told The Yorkshire Post, while standing in the shadow of a huge new machine shop being built at Sheffield Forgemasters.

Mr Jarvis, the former paratrooper and South Yorkshire mayor, is visiting in what could be his final week as Defence Secretary.

Sheffield Forgemasters has started delivering gun barrels to Ukraine to fight Vladimir Putin, the first time the military kit has been built in the UK in 20 years.

The Defence Secretary’s visit came amid work on a new 13,000 tonne forge at Forgemasters, and the massive machine shop which is under construction.

The company started as a blacksmith’s in the Industrial Revolution, the first in Sheffield to forge steel.

Now the new 270m long, 30,000 square metre building will have footprint the size of four Wembley football pitches.

This colossal structure is going to build parts for state-of-the-art nuclear-powered submarines for the UK and Australian navies.

Mr Jarvis said: “I'm really proud now that as the Defence Secretary, I'm being able to invest in our region and see the hugely important work that's taking place here at Sheffield Forgemasters.

“This is a company with 250 years of history, but I also think it's got a very bright future.”

Mr Jarvis was thrust into his new role last month in hugely difficult circumstances.

His fellow South Yorkshire MP John Healey had resigned after failing to get the required money in the Defence Investment Plan (Dip) to keep our country safe.

Mr Jarvis, a man with decades of military experience, stepped in and managed to ramp up the funding to £15bn.

However, this has left the incoming prime minister, Mr Burnham, with £4.7bn to find in his first Budget.

On Monday, the former Greater Manchester Mayor will enter No10 and select his Cabinet.

Will this surprise affect Mr Jarvis’ place at the Ministry of Defence?

“I'm probably the worst person in being able to sort of pitch for anything because it's just not my style,” he told The Yorkshire Post.

“I just get on with the job and leave it to others to decide, but it's a huge privilege to be back in the company of those who put on a uniform and do incredible things for our country.

“I find that personally uplifting and inspiring, and at a point of challenge.

“There is challenge in various forms, and I've seen that security minister over the past couple of years.

“It's an absolute honour and a privilege to be doing this job of Defence Secretary, but ultimately, it'll be for Andy Burnham to pick his cabinet, and I'm sure that he'll make the right choices in that regard.”

Mr Jarvis was in Sir Keir Starmer’s emotional last Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, before he stands down as Prime Minister on Monday.

The Barnsley North MP said that he thought “history will likely be a lot kinder to Keir Starmer than perhaps some of the press have chosen to be”.

“I think Keir Starmer is an extremely decent man, motivated by public service.

“If you look at his record in terms of stabilising the economy, in terms of the number of kids lifted out of poverty, in terms of the amount we're now spending on defence, that is a record to be proud of.”

Moving on to the man who could be his new boss, Mr Jarvis said he was confident that Mr Burnham “will be able to do an outstanding job, albeit admittedly under very challenging circumstances”.

“I think Andy Burnham is someone who has huge experience and has huge character, and I think that he understands better than most the big challenges that we face as a country,” he added.

“I think there is an absolute reservoir of goodwill amongst our parliamentary colleagues to absolutely make sure that we're doing everything that we can to support the new prime minister.”

But will Mr Jarvis be supporting the new occupant of No10 from the Cabinet table or the backbenches? He will find out on Monday.