Asked about her criticisms of her political mentor, Ms McKew told Fairfax Media that she could have written a "fairytale", but she chose not to do that. Former prime minister Julia Gillard campaigning with former Bennelong MP Maxine McKew, who criticised the Ms Gillard for her overthrow of former PM Kevin Rudd. Credit:Andrew Meares The former ABC journalist who held the seat of Bennelong for Labor from 2007-2010 said Mr Rudd "clearly would not like things I've written" but "he should know I still consider him a friend" and he always had her loyalty. "My loyalties are still with Rudd because he deserved to run at least a full first term as prime minister," she said. The "central premise" of Ms McKew's book remained, which was that "the entire history of this last six years could have been very different had people held their nerve and not chopped Rudd's head off in 2010".

Ms McKew, who joined the Rudd travelling party on two occasions during the election, said she had "significant reservations" about the way the campaign was run. She would not elaborate on private conversations had while on the campaign trail. Ms McKew writes that she "couldn't stomach" Mr Rudd's Papua New Guinea asylum-seeker policy, which was "perverse and cruel". And Mr Rudd's surprise trip to the Northern Territory to announce a special tax zone amounted to "idiocy". Mr Rudd's decision to parachute in former Queensland premier Peter Beattie was a "desperate" attempt to win the seat of Forde. It was one of Mr Rudd's "worst" decisions in the campaign, according to Ms McKew. What some regarded as Mr Rudd's finest hour during the election – his sharp retort to a pastor who asked the former prime minister about his support for gay marriage on the ABC's Q&A program – displayed "rudeness", Ms McKew argues. It left the pastor feeling "humiliated". Ms McKew also attacks Mr Rudd's narrative on the economy, saying he confused voters with his populist embrace of "economic nationalism".

During a televised debate with Tony Abbott, Mr Rudd angered many of his colleagues when he said he felt "a bit anxious" about foreign investment. Rather than presenting a coherent plan for the economy during the campaign, Mr Rudd "banged on endlessly about building a strong economy", which Ms McKew argues is meaningless. She said Mr Rudd's policy attacks on Abbott, "instead of hitting the mark, often came across as narky". The feud between the two former prime ministers – Mr Rudd and Ms Gillard – had wrought such destruction in the Labor Party that in future it would be "as reflexive as acid rising in the gullet". On a more positive note, Ms McKew said Mr Rudd ''was able to make the entirely justifiable claim on election night that 'Labor remained a viable fighting force'."

Mr Rudd has also been contacted for comment.