A key confidant of Prime Minister Scott Morrison offered Sutherland Shire councillor Kent Johns a $350,000 party job in an attempt to head off a preselection showdown with sitting Liberal MP Craig Kelly.

Scott Briggs repeatedly called on Cr Johns to drop out of the preselection race for the federal seat of Hughes, adding Mr Kelly would move to the crossbench and "bring down the government" if the challenge proceeded, the Herald understands.

Liberal MP Craig Kelly was saved from a humiliating preselection defeat by the PM's intervention. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Mr Briggs - a Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks board director and a president of the federal electorate conference for Mr Morrison's seat of Cook - made the approaches as early as October.

He suggested that the $350,000 job with the Liberals' federal director would be available if Cr Johns pulled out of the preselection contest with Mr Kelly. The six-month role, Cr Johns was assured, had been approved by the Prime Minister and other key party figures.