Barnaby Joyce on getting former staffer Vikki Campion pregnant

The ousted deputy PM, forced to step down after getting his staffer pregnant, has made a wild allegation about his fellow politicians.

Barnaby Joyce has made a wild allegation over the number of pregnancies in parliament, claiming another senior politician told him he was “the first to keep” his baby.

Speaking to The Back Story, a new YouTube series featuring interviews with influential Australians, Mr Joyce addressed the day his relationship and child with his media adviser Vikki Campion came to light.

It was in February 2018 that Mr Turnbull, then the prime minister of Australia, told reporters his deputy PM had “made a shocking error of judgment” and “appalled all of us”.

Mr Joyce said he watched the entire press conference from his office next door and confronted the PM straight away, a discussion that quickly turned into an argument.

“At the start, you always respect the (prime minister’s) office but if you believe the discussion has gone from a purpose of their office to a purpose that’s personal then you revert from talking to the office to talking to the person,” he told The Back Story.

“And talking to the person can be very abrupt and to the point.”

The interview was filmed in the days after Mr Joyce’s failed challenge against Michael McCormack for the Nationals Party leadership in February of this year however its release was delayed due to coronavirus.

By late February 2018, just days after Mr Turnbull banned his ministers from having relationships with staff off the back of Ms Campion’s pregnancy, Mr Joyce stepped down as deputy prime minister and Nationals Party leader.

Mr Joyce appeared to struggle between holding back and wanting to answer when he was asked if he had confronted any politicians that called for the former deputy PM to have terminated the pregnancy that led to his son Sebastian.

“That’s a question for … look I … I don’t think it’s surprising … look I don’t want to go back there … I’m just going to say this... there was an awful lot of pressure, I mean you could see it on television,” he said.

“Another prominent politician said this to me, and then I’m going to stop answering this, he said, ‘Barnaby, you’re not the first person to get a person pregnant in parliament but you’re definitely the first one to have the baby.

“I think that sort of summed up a lot of it and well, every time you look at Seb, it was the right decision.”

Vikki Campion and Barnaby Joyce with Sebastian in June 2018. Picture: Channel 7

Two years after stepping down as leader of the Nationals Party and deputy prime minister, Mr Joyce tried to rise through the ranks again, challenging Michael McCormack for the two top jobs in February this year.

But his challenge for the leadership failed with Mr Joyce remaining as the member for New England in NSW.

Mr Joyce and Ms Campion are also expecting their second child, another son, in June. Sebastian will be 14 months old by the time he is born.

And while it’s been two years since his affair and child was revealed, the former Nationals leader saw his past dredged up again this week after Malcolm Turnbull’s memoir A Bigger Picture hit shelves.

Mr Turnbull dedicates a whole chapter in the book to his former deputy, titled “Barnaby and the Bonk Ban”.

The chapter addresses his spectacular falling out with Mr Turnbull after his affair with Ms Campion became public.

Mr Joyce wasn’t sympathetic about the book being pirated.

“He never respected anyone’s confidence and it looks like no-one respected his copyright,” he told Seven’s Sunrise on Monday.