The bizarre career of Barnaby Joyce including war with Johnny Depp

Barnaby Joyce has reclaimed leadership of the National Party in the latest twist of a turbulent career in which he has threatened to kill Johnny Depp's dogs and had an affair with a staffer 18 years his junior.

Mr Joyce, 54, was made Deputy Prime Minister for the second time on Monday after the Nationals voted to axe Michael McCormack in a party room meeting.

The father of six - who has four daughters from his collapsed marriage and two sons with his former staffer Vikki Campion - was humble in victory, saying: 'I acknowledge my faults' and 'I hope I come back a better person'.

The move doubles Mr Joyce's salary to $416,212 and begins the next chapter of his political career which began in 2004 when he was elected as a Queensland senator in the Howard government.

The former accountant - who was born in Tamworth, rural New South Wales and studied at the University of New England - became the MP representing his hometown when he switched to the House of Representatives at the 2013 election.

He became deputy leader of the Nationals later that year and made international headlines in 2015 when as Minister for Agriculture he threatened to kill Johnny Depp's dogs.

Depp had used his private jet to sneak Yorkshire Terriers Pistol and Boo into Australia where he was filming Pirates of the Caribbean, violating bio-security laws by failing to declare and quarantine them.

Mr Joyce said the dogs would be put down if they were not sent home to the US. 

'If we start letting movie stars - even though they've been the sexiest man alive twice - to come into our nation [and break the laws], then why don't we just break the laws for everybody,' he said during an infamous press conference.

'It's time that Pistol and Boo buggered off back to the United States.' 

Depp promptly sent his dogs home and a year later insulted Mr Joyce - who he called 'Barnaby Jones' by telling US talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live: 'He looks somehow, like, inbred with a tomato.

'It's not a criticism. I was a little worried. He might explode,' said the Hollywood star.

Mr Joyce hit back, saying: 'I think I'm turning into Johnny Depp's Hannibal Lecter.

'I'm inside his head, I'm pulling little strings and pulling little levers. Long after I've forgotten about Mr Depp, he's remembering me.'

In February 2016, Mr Joyce became Nationals Leader, a role that made him Tony Abbott's deputy prime minister.

After less than two years in the job, he was forced to resign because he was found to have New Zealand citizenship through his Kiwi father. In Australia, dual citizens are not eligible to become parliamentarians. 

Mr Joyce, who said had never applied for the citizenship and did not realise he had it, relinquished his Kiwi citizenship and won a by-election to reclaim his seat of New England in October 2017.

He re-entered Parliament just in time for a crunch vote on same-sex marriage in December that year, a vote in which he abstained after strongly opposing the change by saying it undermined traditional marriage.

Those words would come back to haunt him in February 2018 when it was revealed he was expecting a child with then 33-year-old staffer Ms Campion after an affair which ended his 24-year marriage to Natalie.

The news was revealed in a Daily Telegraph front page which featured a picture of a pregnant Ms Campion under the headline 'Bundle of Joyce'.

The Nationals leader initially claimed the child may not be his, insisting the identity of the father was a 'grey area' - but said he would not take a paternity test and would raise the boy named Sebastian as his. 

At the same time, Mr Joyce was accused of a sexually harassing WA Rural Woman of the Year Catherine Marriot

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