Nationals Senator Matt Canavan seriously doubts reports former minister Ian Macfarlane offered to stay in the Liberal Party in return for his old job.
Mr Macfarlane announced he was switching to the Nationals on Thursday, two-and-a-half months after he was dumped from cabinet by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Some Liberals are accusing Mr Macfarlane of blatant self-interest and reports have emerged he offered to stay in the Liberal Party if he got his old job back.
But Nationals Senator Canavan says he's spoken with Mr Macfarlane, who has labelled the reports as "absolute rubbish".
"I seriously doubt someone of Ian's experience and stature would do something like that because it's pretty clear that if you were doing those sorts of things it would get out," Senator Canavan told Sky News.
"When you do things like that and remove a first-term prime minister you do open a can of worms and some unexpected things can happen. I don't think anyone expected this, but it has happened."
Mr Macfarlane first began talking to Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals Leader Warren Truss about the idea when he was dumped from the ministry by Mr Turnbull after the ousting of Tony Abbott in September.
His move - if approved by his Groom electorate council on December 12 - will take the Nationals' numbers to 22, which members say changes the ratio determining how many ministries are given to the junior coalition partner.
Mr Turnbull and Mr Truss are set to meet within weeks to discuss an extra ministry position for the Nationals.
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