Although men and money had been secured , the markets component of the Bruce plan was never fully realised . At the 1923 Imperial Economic Conference , Bruce lobbied consistently for the Conservative government of Stanley Baldwin to make changes to Great Britain 's trading arrangements to give preference to dominion products over imports from other nations . He argued for Empire-wide economic trading arrangements that filled domestic demands by production from member states before seeking supplemental imports from other countries and empires . Baldwin and the Conservatives attempted to introduce such a scheme in Britain ; however , the British public feared higher prices for basic products ( particularly food ) , and this fear was a factor in the Conservative government 's defeat in the election of December 1923 . Baldwin 's successor Ramsay MacDonald repudiated the plan , much to Bruce 's chagrin , and attempts to revive negotiations foundered as economic conditions worsened throughout the decade . World agricultural prices stalled in the mid-1920s as European and American agricultural production recovered to pre-war levels , and Australian exports were crowded out of markets as the decade progressed
1923 Imperial Economic Conference
1923 Imperial Conference
Stanley Bruce