Editing Stanley Bruce (section)

===Treasurer, 1921–1923===
Returning from Europe in October 1921, he was invited by Prime Minister Billy Hughes to join his government as [[Minister for Trade (Australia)|Minister for Trade and Customs]]. Bruce was not interested{{spaced ndash}} he was the head of one of Australia's largest importing houses and thus had a serious [[conflict of interest]] with the portfolio, as well as being very busy running the affairs of that business. But he countered by stating that he might feel obliged to accept if the position of [[Treasurer of Australia|Treasurer]] was offered, knowing that it had already been promised to [[Walter Massy-Greene]]. To Bruce's surprise, Hughes agreed, although Massy-Greene was to remain the number two in the government and [[Minister for Defence (Australia)|Minister for Defence]].{{sfn|Edwards|pp=57–58}} Bruce had only been in parliament for three years, yet his business background was highly desirable to Hughes, who was facing growing criticism from the pro-business figures of the party. These figures had become increasingly suspicious of Hughes and his interventionist approach to the economy.{{sfn|Edwards|pp=59–60}} Influential party figures such as Senator [[George Pearce]] and the National Union had also identified Bruce as their preferred choice for the treasury.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pearce |first=George Foster |title=Carpenter to Cabinet: Thirty-Seven Years of Parliament. |year=1951 |publisher=Hutchinson & Company Limited |location=London, UK |page=156}}</ref>

Bruce and Hughes clashed in both style and ideology. Bruce found Hughes' management of the government capricious and chaotic, and felt that little was accomplished in Cabinet or in party meetings so long as Hughes headed them.{{sfn|Edwards|pp=63–65}} But he was a strong counterweight to the domineering Hughes, resisting several of his more expensive proposals or acting as the voice of reason to talk Hughes down from several of his more outlandish ideas.{{sfn|Treasury of Australia}} His tenure would ultimately be short, presiding over just one budget in 1922, which was conservative and tax-cutting. The [[Opposition (Australia)|Opposition]] criticised the budget for its failure to limit rising government spending and indebtedness.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mr. Bruce and his Critics |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1858670 |newspaper=The Argus |date=30 November 1922|page=8}}</ref> The budget included many concessions to rural interests and the recently formed Country Party, which appeared as a major threat to Nationalist Party dominance going into the [[1922 Australian federal election|1922 elections]] in December.{{sfn|Edwards|p=67}} Yet Bruce endeared himself to many of his colleagues with his amiable personal style, his forceful voice in Cabinet against Hughes, and his conservative views, which were more in line with the majority of the party.{{sfn|Edwards|pp=69–71}}