In the end, Barnaby Joyce didn’t so much leave the Nationals as quietly concede they’d already left him.

He stood up from the opposition backbenches in the House of Representatives as though he’d wandered into his own political wake — the guest of honour, the eulogist and, in a way, the body.

Barnaby Joyce has left the Nationals after 20 years representing the party in both houses in Canberra.Credit: Marija Ercegovac

“Walking away in part from the party in Canberra is easy. Walking away from the membership is very, very, very hard,” Joyce would later say outside the chamber.

“It’s just quite obvious, when they talk about generational change, that’s code for get out of here.”

His farewell left more questions than it answered. But one thing was clear: the most influential and charismatic Nationals MP since John “Black Jack” McEwen was severing all ties with the party after a colourful and scandal-plagued 20 years in parliament.

It was a resignation that landed with the soft thud of something long expected, delivered in a speech that sounded less like a breakaway and more like the final acknowledgement of a conversation that never came.

Since announcing his intention not to contest his New England seat again weeks ago, amid speculation of an imminent........

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