LABOR may have knifed a prime minister from Queensland and replaced him with one from Victoria, but once again it was a NSW powerbroker being blamed in the bloody aftermath of yesterday's coup.

Former premier Morris Iemma savaged Mark Arbib, saying he had wrecked the prime ministership of Kevin Rudd in the same manner he had wrecked the NSW government.

"The architects of the wreckage in NSW have rolled out the wrecking ball in Canberra," Mr Iemma said.

"The policy advice they gave to Rudd led him into trouble and then they bailed out on him. They didn't have the courage to stick with him.

"Their poor advice and poor tactical decisions saw his reputation trashed to the point of no return."

But Mr Arbib hit back last night, saying he had supported Mr Iemma for years and had advised others not to move against the former Premier.

"It is pretty disappointing to hear that from Morris. I supported him for over a decade and he often told me he was going to step down as Premier in September or October 2008.

"I took him at his word and offered to help him solve the electricity privatisation deadlock, even after I had left the Party Office."

Mr Rudd told caucus he did "not want the federal government to become the NSW government with what happened to Iemma and other premiers", federal MPs said.

The MP for Fowler Julia Irwin said Mr Arbib "has a lot to answer, for the damage he has done to NSW Labor."

Ms Irwin said her fellow MPs were being pressured by factional leaders and trade union bosses, who had "got them to where they are".

"I'm sad to say that a lot of them are going to sell their souls," she said.

Although Mr Arbib was privately framing the coup as the work of the Victorian Right MPs David Feeney and Bill Shorten, he is known to have been in discussions for weeks.

Some weeks ago he consulted powerbroker Graham Richardson as to whether he should shift the NSW Right's support to Ms Gillard.

Mr Iemma said Ms Gillard would make a "terrific PM" but he said: "Her time has come earlier than it otherwise would have".

Mr Arbib has been in a powerbroking position during the retirement of Bob Carr, the fall of Morris Iemma and Nathan Rees, the fall of Kim Beazley as well as Mr Rudd.

Labor figures have accused Mr Arbib and fellow plotters of parroting focus group research, rather than putting it through a critical filter. Others accused Mr Arbib of being involved in disasters such as the insulation scheme, but allowing Peter Garrett to take the fall.

Originally published as Powerful men who broke Rudd