"I’ve been in heaps of fights in my political life, this is another one, in any person’s political career you aren’t created by the times in your favour, you’re tempered by the times of adversity. That’s how politics works - you rise to deal with it," he said. "I am humbled by the support in my electorate and in the community. People are starting to see this as a witch hunt. I’m not going anywhere, I never would." "People know enough about me to know that I’m hardly one to run away from a fight." A Nationals figure who participated in the phone hook-up of Nationals officials played down its significance and said it was "hardly surprising that party officials were meeting to discuss current events" given the revelations of the past fortnight. Underscoring the depth of the crisis and the breakdown of relations within the Coalition, multiple Nationals sources said they believed a story in Sydney's Daily Telegraph that suggested the Deputy Prime Minister had tried to snatch away the portfolio responsibilities of Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher in December's reshuffle was planted by Mr Turnbull's office.

"They are definitely leaking against him [Mr Joyce]. We can leak stuff to make Malcolm look stupid if they want?" threatened one. Another supporter of the Deputy Prime Minister said that if he was responsible for a dip in Newspoll on Monday - the Coalition's two-party preferred vote dropped a point to 47-53 and 65 per cent of voters suggested Mr Joyce should step down as Nationals leader or leave politics entirely - "who is responsible for the previous 26 [Newspolls]?" Despite Mr Joyce's defiant stance, some MPs in the Nationals believe his resignation as party leader is inevitable, that he will face a challenge in the party room next week and that he must go for the good of the government. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video "There can only be one outcome, this will only get worse and he will go down in history for being blasted out," said one National.

Former party leader John Anderson again publicly urged the Deputy Prime Minister to think carefully about his personal situation. Mr Joyce spoke to Fairfax Media after his chief rival for the leadership, NSW MP Michael McCormack, participated in an excruciating interview on Sky News in which he repeatedly said Mr Joyce was the party leader "at the moment" and in which he was asked eight times if he supported Mr Joyce. Mr McCormack eventually said "of course I support Barnaby Joyce" but would not predict what might happen this week, only that "there is no challenge at the moment". Also on Monday Mr Turnbull told radio station 3AW that, following a public clash over the affair with Ms Campion, the pair had "put whatever tensions there were behind us". "I'm not going to go into the private discussions I've had with him other than to say that at no stage did he say to me that he was having a sexual relationship with this lady [Ms Campion]."

Mr Joyce has left his wife, Natalie, and he and Ms Campion are expecting a baby in April. Mr Joyce has also faced questions over Ms Campion's redeployment to the office of Senator Matt Canavan, and then lower house MP Damian Drum, and over rent-free accommodation given to him by businessman friend Greg Maguire.