David Caygill

David Francis Caygill (born 15 November 1948) is a former New Zealand politician.

Caygill was born and raised in Christchurch.

Caygill was born in Christchurch on 15 November 1948, the son of Gwyneth Mary Caygill (née Harris) and Bruce Allot Caygill.

He entered politics in 1971 as Christchurch's youngest city councillor at the age of 22.

He was educated at St Albans Primary School and Christchurch Boys' High School, and then studied at the University of Canterbury, graduating Bachelor of Arts in 1971 and Bachelor of Laws in 1974.

In 1971 Caygill was President of the University of Canterbury Students' Association from 1975 to 1978.

Upon the urging of Neville Pickering, Caygill successfully ran for the Christchurch City Council in 1971, and served until 1980.

In 1974, he married Eileen Ellen Boyd, and the couple went on to have four children.

On 29 April 1974, he became the city's youngest ever acting Mayor for a period of five days.

He was chair of the council's staff and community services committee.

From 1975 to 1978 he practised law with a Christchurch legal firm.

Caygill's early political philosophies were aligned with the National Party and he chaired the St Albans branch of the Young Nationals as a schoolboy.

His allegiance switched to Labour in part due to the Vietnam War, which Labour opposed.

From 1977 to 1980 he was a member of the Canterbury Regional Planning Authority and was chairman of the Authority's air pollution committee.

He was also a council member of Christchurch Polytechnic.

He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1978 to 1996, representing the Labour Party.

Caygill was first elected to Parliament at the 1978 general election as MP for the Christchurch electorate of St Albans.

He served for six terms.

Caygill was described as one of the most energetic new members elected at the 1978 election.

Just under a year later in a reshuffle in October 1979 Caygill was promoted by Labour leader Bill Rowling and given the economic development portfolio.

In March 1981 he had his responsibilities switched and was instead appointed Shadow Minister of Local Government.

His duties changed again in February 1982 and he became Shadow Minister of Energy.

When David Lange replaced Rowling leader he appointed Caygill as Shadow Minister of Trade and Industry in March 1983.

When the Fourth Labour Government was formed after the 1984 elections, Caygill aligned himself with Roger Douglas, the controversial Minister of Finance.

Douglas, Caygill, and Richard Prebble were together dubbed "the Treasury Troika", and were responsible for most of the economic reform undertaken by the Labour government.

The "Rogernomics" reforms, which were based on free market economic theory, were unpopular with many traditional Labour supporters, but Caygill managed to avoid the worst of the condemnation directed towards Douglas and Prebble.

Caygill was appointed by the new Prime Minister, David Lange, as Minister of Trade and Industry, and Minister of National Development, on 26 July 1984.

In 1987, after Labour had been re-elected, he was appointed Minister of Health.

As health minister he rejected the orthodoxy of the Gibbs report, which sought to create a more competition oriented hospital service.

When Douglas was fired by Prime Minister Lange, Caygill was appointed Minister of Finance in his place.

After Lange himself had resigned, Caygill retained his position under both Geoffrey Palmer and Mike Moore, Lange's short-lived successors as Prime Minister.

As finance minister he passed the "inflation busting" Reserve Bank Act.

He also became Minister of Revenue, but dropped the health portfolio.

In his last budget as Minister of Finance, Caygill lifted the quarantining of rental losses on investment property, allowing an investor to offset losses on their investment property against their other taxable income.

Caygill was described as a consummate back-room politician; "Calm, utterly discreet, yet equally forceful, he [Caygill] is said to have people march angrily into his room then leave it an hour later smiling — even if they have lost the argument."

A supporter of Rogernomics, he served as Minister of Finance between 1988 and 1990.

After the defeat of the Fourth Labour Government in November 1990 Caygill became Shadow Minister of Finance.

In December 1991 Caygill was replaced as finance spokesperson by Michael Cullen, who was more moderate in his economic policies.

When the two became founding members of the ACT New Zealand political party in 1994, Caygill chose not to join them.

From 2010 to 2019, he was one of the government-appointed commissioners at Environment Canterbury.