David Richard Cunliffe (born 1963) is a New Zealand politician. He is a member of the Labour Party, and the sitting member of parliament for New Lynn, West Auckland. He served as the Minister of Health and Minister for Communications and Information Technology for the Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand from October 2007 until November 2008. After the 2008 general election defeat of the Labour Party, and the resignation of Helen Clark as the party leader, Cunliffe was appointed to be the party's Finance Spokesman. This is considered to be the third highest ranking within the party after leader and deputy leader. Cunliffe has been touted as a future leader of the Labour party, and party insiders have suggested he seriously considered challenging Goff in the aftermath of the 2008 electoral defeat. Speculation of a leadership challenge again arose during the June 2010 expenses scandal and again after the 'Cartergate' affair.