Malcolm Turnbull praises Barnaby Joyce’s ‘stunning’ victory

The victory was seized on by National Party president, Larry Anthony, as a chance to “hit the reset button for the Coalition”.

Barnaby Joyce poses for photographs after winning the New England by-election

Barnaby Joyce will not enjoy an immediate return to parliament for its final session despite a thumping victory that saw him regain the seat of New England with the largest primary swing to a ­government in a by-election since federation.

The former deputy prime minister pulled a primary swing of 12.3 per cent — one percentage point higher than the total number of first preference votes for Labor’s Dave Ewings — but the writ may not be returned in time for this week’s parliamentary sitting.

The victory was seized on by Nationals president Larry Anthony as a chance to “hit the reset button for the Coalition” after the cabinet was forced into a backdown on its opposition to a banking royal commission.

Malcolm Turnbull also interpreted the result as a “resounding vote of confidence” for his government in a bid to smooth over tensions after a number of Nationals broke ranks to question his leadership, including Victorian MP Andrew Broad, Queensland MP George Christensen and NSW Nationals leader John Barilaro, who called on the Prime Minister to step down as a Christmas gift to the nation.

Mr Joyce used his victory to lend his support to Mr Turnbull, saying: “I am looking forward to going back to work with this fella here.” He acknowledged there were challenges, including Mr Turnbull’s popularity, but urged that to be put aside. “Running the country is a little bit harder than running sheep through a gate, I can tell you that,” he said.

Drawing on the LNP experience at the Queensland state poll, the Prime Minister yesterday told Sky News there would be “no preference deals with One Nation” at the next federal election, warning that a “vote for One Nation is a vote for Labor”.

His stance won the backing of several of his LNP colleagues, including former Nationals senator and party elder Ron Boswell — who said Mr Turnbull was “100 per cent right” — and Assistant Trade Minister Keith Pitt, who warned that One Nation existed to “do us damage”.

Mr Joyce’s office does not expect New England to be declared officially before Wednesday but the former minister for agriculture will be in Canberra today for a ­Nationals partyroom meeting.

As a non-member, Mr Joyce will be approved by the party to sit in on the meeting and will automatically resume his role as leader when the seat is officially declared.

In a field of 17 candidates, Mr Joyce pulled a primary vote of 64.6 per cent, up from more than 52 per cent last year when he ran against former member Tony Windsor, but up just 0.1 per cent on his 2013 result when Mr Windsor was not a candidate.

“Tony Windsor’s vote was returning to the Nationals,” Mr Joyce told ABC’s Insiders. “The New England by-election shows we have a conservative vote. The Labor Party should ask what happened to their blue-collar vote.”

Mr Turnbull arrived at Mr Joyce’s election party at the Southgate Inn in Tamworth and declared a “stunning” victory.

“We are getting the band back together,” he told the crowd.