Guided to politics by his beliefs in Anglicanism, Christian socialism and pacifism, he gained a reputation for brilliant ability as an organiser and administrator which compensated for a lack of charisma and bouts of indecisiveness.

The Second Labour Government's "Black Budget" of 1958, in response to a balance of payments crisis, increased taxes on luxuries such as beer and tobacco.

[3] Nash was active in international affairs and travelled extensively during his premiership, revising trade terms and supporting aid and development in other nations.

His political opinions were influenced by his friendship with prominent New Zealand socialists such as Michael Joseph Savage, Bob Semple and Harry Holland.

[1] During World War I he made many speeches at the Church of England Men's Society stating his reasons for pacifism were faith based and called for understanding with German and Austrian Christians.

[5] Due to his open pacifism and friendship with other anti-war activists such as Holland his mail was scrutinised by police looking for evidence on himself and colleagues for sedition or treason.

Labour campaigned on borrowing £30,000 to finance council housing which the occupiers were to have a right to purchase, with the rest funded by profits made by the local electric light department.

[15] When Labour, led by Michael Joseph Savage, won the 1935 election Nash was appointed to Cabinet as minister of finance, although he also held a number of more minor positions.

[17] New Zealand's economy was in poor shape at the time of Nash's appointment as finance minister and he was very busy for the early part of his ministerial career.

The changes in economic policy included restoring wage cuts, expanding pensions, guaranteeing farmers' prices and revaluation of the currency.

[23] Nash himself had limited involvement in the formulation of Labour's economic reform policies, however he was largely responsible for putting them into effect, with other ministers relying on him for his attention to detail.

[1] Immediately following Labour's re-election at the 1938 general election New Zealand experienced an exchange crisis with its reserves of sterling funds falling.

[24] Other colleagues (such as John A. Lee and Mark Woolf Silverstone) felt the main reason this decision had been delayed was to not frighten voters too soon ahead of the election with radical economic repositioning.

[25] Prime Minister Savage informed the public that exchange controls were introduced to 'insulate' the country from unfair overseas competition and to encourage industrial development locally.

Nash attempted to compromise suggesting that British manufacturers could take advantage of import regulations by establishing branch factories in New Zealand.

"[29] With loans secured Nash sailed home, stopping in Washington, D.C., en route and met with President Franklin D. Roosevelt to discuss defence arrangements in the event of a war.

Nash took some quiet ironical satisfaction that the government that had been so hostile to his policies and negotiated so unfairly was now so desperate for the bulk sales it had earlier denied.

As a result of Nash's frequent absences, Geoffrey Cox, the first secretary at the New Zealand Embassy, was chargé d'affaires for 11 out of the 21 months that he was posted to Washington.

[36] At the end of the war Nash attended the conferences to create the United Nations and also recommended that New Zealand join the International Monetary Fund.

In 1954 a majority of the caucus was in favour of a new leader but pressure from the unions and continued support from Party branches allowed Nash to survive the subsequent vote.

[45] The gains made in the election were seen as sufficient to justify Nash retaining the leadership, despite some murmurs of a surprise challenge to him by either his deputy Jerry Skinner or Nordmeyer.

In the 1957 election the party won a narrow victory—41 seats to 39[47]— assisted by its promises of tax rebates and the abolition of compulsory military training.

[52] Nash's habit for accumulating paperwork had not abated and the tables in his office were said to "groan" under the weight of files that had been left awaiting a decision to be made.

During his overseas trips, public servants would eagerly go through his office and dig through the "cemetery" of unattended piles of paperwork, retrieving them to pass them on the appropriate ministers for actions to take place.

His biographer Keith Sinclair explained that "for Nash, by 1958, the great moral issues were not poverty and social security at home but world affairs, peace and war.

The decision to exclude Māori from the team to tour South Africa was widely reported and condemned in other countries, having an adverse effect on New Zealand's international standing.

In any case, following Fraser's example, Nash believed that the best way to show government commitment to Māori was to lend the mana of the office of prime minister to the portfolio.

Initially Nash was planning to announce his retirement as leader at Labour's 1962 party conference to clear the way for his deputy Jerry Skinner.

The media speculated that Skinner had died with the knowledge that the party leadership would soon be his and that the caucus had already approved of his succession, however Nash strongly denied the suggestion.

Nash had become unpopular with the left wing because of his responses to the 1951 waterfront dispute and the 1960 rugby tour to South Africa, but his outspokenness in opposition to the war did a great deal to restore his reputation.