Barnaby Joyce responds to being called ‘inbred with a tomato’ by Johnny Depp

Barnaby Joyce has described himself as “Johnny Depp’s Hannibal Lecter” - after the Hollywood actor dished out some creatively scathing criticism of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Depp added fuel to the fire in his tenuous relationship with Mr Joyce, describing him as “somehow inbred with a tomato”, on American late night talk-show Jimmy Kimmel Live!.

The 52-year-old actor’s wife Amber Heard escaped conviction in a Gold Coast court last month with a one-month good behaviour bond after pleading guilty to failing to declare their two dogs, Pistol and Boo, when they arrived in Australia last year.

Mr Joyce laughed off the insult to reporters in Tamworth this morning.

“I’m inside his head, pulling little strings and pulling little levers. Long after I’ve forgotten about Mr Depp, he’s remembering me,” he said.

When asked about the saga, Depp told host Jimmy Kimmel the dogs were “clearly dangerous in Australia, because there’s so many poisonous creatures in Australia, you could die at any minute… so the dogs were obviously a problem.”

Kimmel asked him about the video Depp and his wife made in which they apologised to the Australian public on the orders of border officials – a stunt that was later publicly mocked on social media for its awkwardness.

“Sometimes you have to giggle a bit to get it out,” Depp said, stifling a laugh.

When asked if he watched it back, he replied “no, because I didn’t want to kill myself.”

“The choice they made to utilise the taxpayer dollars to globally chase down a couple of teacup Yorkies, and give them fifty hours to live…” he said.

“I learnt the error of my ways.”

Depp then said his analogy between Mr Joyce and a tomato was “not a criticism”.

Depp and Heard caused a furore when they breached Australia’s biosecurity laws, failing to declare their dogs to customs when they arrived in Queensland by private jet.At the time, Mr Joyce threatened to have the pets euthanised if they remained in the country.

“It’s time that Pistol and Boo buggered off back to the United States… he’s now got about 50 hours left to remove them,” Mr Joyce said, before the dogs were taken out of the country.