‘Meet Barnaby Joyce!’: Amber Heard names dog after Australia’s deputy PM following clash over Pistol and Boo

Six years after Barnaby Joyce threatened to euthanise dogs belonging to Amber Heard and Johnny Depp, Heard appears to have had the last laugh, naming her new four-legged friend after Australia’s deputy prime minister.

On Monday the actor posted a photograph on Twitter showing herself holding up a large scruffy white dog with the caption: “Meet the newest member of the Heard family, Barnaby Joyce!”

In May 2015 Joyce, who was also agriculture minister at the time, gave Heard and her then partner, Johnny Depp, an ultimatum after they brought their two yorkshire terriers Pistol and Boo to Australia without permission: send them back to the US or have them put down.

Joyce was firm on the application of the law, saying at the time that the rules could not be relaxed, even for someone who had twice been voted sexiest man alive.

The two dogs were flown back to the US and Heard was subsequently charged with two counts of illegally importing dogs into Australia and one count of producing a false document.

The saga seemingly concluded in April 2016 when Heard and Depp pleaded guilty to the dog-smuggling charges.

Heard was placed on a $1,000 good behaviour bond and the couple recorded a strange video apology in which they laud Australia’s “treasure trove of unique plants and animals”. At the time, the footage was compared to a hostage video.

The animosity between the actors and the politician endured, and Depp took the chance to describe Joyce as appearing to be “inbred with a tomato” during a talkshow appearance later that year.

Heard is now the owner of Pistol and Boo, after her split from Depp in 2017.