Nationals would do well to hold on to Joyce

HE may have made a royal mess of his private life, but Barnaby Joyce is still a seasoned politician with power to play the game. And that makes him a prized asset, writes Miranda Devine.

TRUST Jacqui Lambie to find a crude but effective way to sum up Barnaby Joyce’s predicament:

“If you can’t keep it in your pants you’re going to pay the price. It’s as simple as that,” the former crossbench Senator told the ABC.

Joyce is still dominating the headlines, three days after he described his National Party colleagues as “scum of the earth” in a paid interview on Channel Seven with new partner Vikki Campion.

Former Nationals leader John Anderson says Joyce should consider his future and he’s not the only National who’s pressuring the former Deputy PM to leave politics.

Despite being on two weeks sick leave Joyce slapped down the speculation:

“Of course I am running again. The first people I would tell if I wasn’t would be the electorate.”

There’s no question Joyce has made a mess of his life and career since he left his wife and four daughters after getting staffer Campion pregnant, but the most important person in this story is the baby, Sebastian, and his parents deserve respect for resisting pressure to have an abortion.

In any case, it would be a mistake if the Nationals try to force him out of New England.

Better to have him inside the tent pissing out than the other way around as Lyndon Johnson once famously said about J. Edgar Hoover.

Joyce still has talent as a politician, so why would you push him into the arms of One Nation, or some other minor party, where he could wreak mayhem that puts Pauline Hanson and Clive Palmer in the shade.