Former deputy prime minister Banarby Joyce has announced that he will challenge MIchael McCormack for the leadership of the Nationals at Tuesday’s party room meeting if there is a spill.  

Sky News host Laura Jayes reported that Joyce would stand if both positions, for the deputy leadership and leadership of the Nationals, were put to a vote.

The ABC’s Lucy Barbour also confirmed the news.

“If there is a spill I will stand. It is entirely up to them if they wish to spill,” Mr Joyce told her.

“A spill is a real option but not a certainty.”

Joyce then appeared on Channel 7’s Sunrise to remove any doubt about his decision.

“If there is a spill on I will put my hand up,” he said.

“Obviously after a spill, there is technically no leader. That is a right in a Westminster system of government. It is up to others if there is a spill.

“I believe that I’ve done the job before. Every seat we’ve got is one I’ve won at the previous election. But I’ll leave that up to my colleagues, they can make the call.”

“Have you been told that they will make the call for a spill?” host David Koch asked.

“Well I’m going to leave that up to them, Kochie,” Mr Joyce said.

“No, you must know though. You must have some sort of political stooges in the party who’ve said, ‘Mate, we’re going to call for a spill, are you going to run?’” Koch said.

“If they choose to do it, they choose to do it. I never put a certainty on anything. I’ve said every time people have asked me, if there’s a vacancy I will stand. And I’ll leave it up to my colleagues to make a choice of what they wish.”

“Yeah but going on national TV the day before a party room meeting like this is pretty clear that you’re putting your hand up,” Koch’s fellow host Natalie Barr pointed out.

“Going on national TV on a Monday on Sunrise is what I do every week, and of course it’d be more odd if I all of a sudden didn’t appear,” said Mr Joyce.

“But it’s what you’re saying, we’re talking about. You’ve just said that you’ll put your hand up if there’s a spill. You want to be the leader, don’t you?” she pressed.

“That’s correct,” he said.

Also appearing on the show was Labor’s Joel Fitzgibbon, who described Joyce’s move as a “vote of no confidence” in the leadership of the Nationals.

“Barnaby Joyce just told us that the National Party is dysfunctional, and indeed hopeless. My concern is that a dysfunctional government just got a whole lot more dysfunctional.”

The leadership has been thrown into question after the sports rorts scandal, which lead to Bridget McKenzie’s resignation.

McKenzie resigned after an investigation by the prime minister’s department boss Phil Gaetjens found that she did not properly declare memberships of gun clubs that received grants while she was sports minister.

While McKenzie did not personally benefit, it is still a breach of ministerial standards.