Barnaby Joyce vows to work harder than ever

Barnaby Joyce has vowed not to rest on his laurels after reclaiming New England following a bitter and tight battle for the seat.

A day after beating off a threat from former independent Tony Windsor, the deputy prime minister was out and about on the streets of Tamworth looking relaxed as he took his wife and one of his daughters for coffee.

It was a different scenario a day earlier when the under-pressure Nationals leader was hitting one part of the electorate to another in a last-minute bid to win over voters.

After a bitterly fought campaign in which negative personal political attack ads featured strongly, Mr Joyce gained a healthy primary vote of more than 51 percent.

He said it was an incredible result.

"The numbers speak for themselves," he told reporters in Tamworth this morning.

Mr Joyce believes it was a testament to how voters were put off by the negativity of the campaign in the final stretch.

It should have been about ideas and not personalities.

"They want to make sure they get delivery and you fight for them."

The Nationals leader is already planning for the next election, taking stock about what went right and wrong during the campaign.

But he's promised to work even harder.

"I won't suffer the same hubris."