He graduated from the law school of Tokyo Imperial University, where one of his classmates was Gōtarō Ogawa and entered the Finance Ministry.

He served in various posts within the ministry, including Director of the Yokohama Customs Office, Director of Accounts with the Japanese Resident-General of Korea, and from 1907 was with the Cabinet Legislation Bureau, rising to the position of Director-General of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau under the Takahashi administration in 1922.

The following year, he was appointed to a seat in the House of Peers, where he became noted for his ability to arrange for compromise between the political factions and parties.

In the aftermath of the February 26 Incident, reformists in the Cabinet Legislation Bureau and a faction within the Imperial Japanese Army led by Colonel Kanji Ishiwara pushed forward a sweeping reform plan calling for a massive reorganization of Japanese society by the nationalization and amalgamation of key industries and the streamlining of government agencies to form a “national defense state”.

Even this compromise measure diminished Konoe’s popularity with the civilian and business community and led to some resignations within his administration, without completely mollifying the Army, who then pushed for Baba to be given the post of Director of the Cabinet Planning Board as well.