SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's deputy prime minister said on Friday he will resign as leader of his party after weeks of pressure over an affair with a staffer that brought him into open conflict with his premier and a new allegation of sexual harassment emerged. “I will say on Monday morning at the party room I will step down as the leader of the National Party and deputy leader of Australia,” Joyce told reporters in Armidale, the rural town he represents about 485 km (300 miles) northeast of Sydney. It’s just wrong.”

But Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who is in Washington for talks with President Donald Trump, was aghast at Joyce’s behavior, according to people who know him, and introduced a rule prohibiting sexual relations between ministers and their personal staff, a decision that tapped into the global #MeToo movement inspired by the allegations against movie producer Harvey Weinstein. National Party federal director Ben Hindmarsh said on Friday the party had received the sexual harassment allegation against Joyce but declined to give any details. "I have asked that that be referred to the police," he said, while admitting it had been "the straw that broke the camel's back". Joyce had opted to give several media interviews this week, at a time when he was expected to be on leave and out of the spotlight, prompting two of the party’s backbenchers to publicly call on him to resign. Now that Dr Gillespie has signalled he would be a candidate if there is a vacancy, it is likely there would be a leadership contest, as there is also significant backing for Veterans Affairs Minister Michael McCormack. Barnaby Joyce said he will step down on Monday as leader of the National party, the junior partner in Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's centre-right coalition, after resisting earlier calls to quit over the affair with his former media secretary, with whom he is expecting a child. But it has also highlighted the perilous state of the coalition government, which just a few months ago survived a crisis over lawmakers' dual citizenship that threatened its wafer-thin parliamentary majority.
Barnaby Joyce announces his resignation as Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the National Party, following scandals involving an affair with a staffer and a sexual harassment allegation. The party, a junior partner in the Coalition government, will vote for his successor on February 26.