Former Gordon Brown strategist 'masterminding class war' in Australia The Opposition leader, Tony Abbott, said the Brown government "played the class war card as hard as it could" and that Mr McTernan had imported the strategy to Canberra. "It's interesting, he was part of the Brown government in Britain, and the Brown government basically played the class war card as hard as it could, everyday up until its defeat," Mr Abbott told a Sydney radio station. It seems that ever since he's arrived that's been the practice of the Gillard government, to play the class war card, to attack so-called billionaires. Mr McTernan, a Labour operative in Britain who was Mr Blair's director of political operations, worked on the 2007 Australian Labour party election campaign before taking up a full-time job with Ms Gillard last year. He advised the British Labour government on health, welfare, defence and Scotland and has written for the Daily Telegraph. Since his move to Australia, he has been likened to the foul-mouthed Scottish spin doctor Malcolm Tucker from BBC's The Thick Of It, particularly after he rang a Sydney radio presenter to complain about a negative story and reportedly used the "f-bomb" 30 times during their 12-minute conversation. In Australia, Labour has recently launched scathing attacks on the country's mining tycoons such as Clive Palmer and Gina Rinehart for posing a "threat to democracy" and selfishly trying to influence political debate. The attacks have primarily been led by the Treasurer Wayne Swan, rather than Ms Gillard. Mr McTernan was unavailable for comment today. He is currently in New York with Ms Gillard, who is addressing the United Nations this week. Ms Gillard's office declined to comment.