Barnaby Joyce says he isn't trying to take over as Nationals leader again, but he's ready to do the job if his colleagues ask.
Senior Nationals threw their weight behind leader Michael McCormack after some other Nationals described the deputy prime minister as "ineffective" and criticised him for failing to stand up to the Liberal Party.
Mr Joyce was Nationals leader until he quit in February after his former staffer Vikki Campion became pregnant with his child.
"I have not made one call to one colleague asking for a vote," Mr Joyce told Sky News on Wednesday.
"There's been no secret meetings in my room, there's no WhatsApp group, there's no dinner conversations going away to a restaurant."
But he confirmed he had ambitions to be leader again.
"It is faux modesty to say if you're offered a job, you'd turn it down. That is garbage," Mr Joyce said.
"If it was offered to me I'd take it, but I'm not touting for it, I'm not collecting the numbers."
Earlier, Nationals frontbencher Darren Chester backed Mr McCormack to stay in the job.
"He's obviously a personal friend of mine and I back him 100 per cent and I think he has strong support across our party room," Mr Chester told Sky News.
Fellow Nationals frontbencher Matt Canavan also talked down the prospects of a leadership insurrection.
"I haven't had conversations with any of my colleagues around these issues, because my colleagues support Michael McCormack," Senator Canavan told reporters in Canberra.
"We can't go through a sitting week without some speculation on leadership. It's the National Party's turn this week, we'll ride through it."
Mr Chester, the minister for defence personnel, described Parliament House as a "nest of rumours and innuendo".
"This is speculation, it's paper talk, it's unnamed sources," he said.
"It's rubbish and Michael McCormack has the support of the party room."
Mr McCormack also hit out at his internal critics.
"These inside Canberra games you are playing, they will come back to bite you, don't worry about that," he told parliament on Tuesday.
"Look in the mirror and ask if that is really serving the people of Australia."
