It is remembered for raising taxes on alcohol, cigarettes and petrol, a move which was probably responsible for the government lasting for only one term.

He faced National leader Keith Holyoake, who had recently taken over the Prime Ministership from Sidney Holland and had not yet settled into his role.

This negated the popularity of the tax rebate; cartoonists depicted Nash handing out money and Finance Minister Arnold Nordmeyer taking it back.

In addition, Nash seemed old and out of touch compared to the much younger Holyoake, who had by this time acquired the leadership skills which would see him become one of New Zealand's longest-serving prime ministers.

This was and would continue to be a perennial problem for Labour under First Past the Post – its voters tended to be concentrated in a few electorates, whereas National's were more spread out, enabling National to consistently take a disproportionate number of seats.