Knitting story falls apart as Gillard's staff run for cover Julia Gillard's staff are focussed on the big issues - defending their own reputations. Communications director John McTernan is denying the Big Knit disaster was his own idea: Ms Gillard's communications director, John McTernan, who was quoted as saying the shoot was a "no-brainer," now claims the office and its media strategy were hijacked by the magazine. "The concept of the photo shoot was not dictated by the Prime Minister's office," he said. The Women's Weekly arranged the photo shoot, including requesting the Prime Minister knit and that her dog, Reuben, attend. "That is absolutely false," said the magazine's associate editor Caroline Overington, who wrote the accompanying article in the magazine. An email from a staffer in the Prime Minister's office [Keely O'Brien] reveals the motivation for the shoot. "As I mentioned the PM is putting together a knitting care package for Kate Middleton, who is due in mid-July, and I was thinking this would make a great story for the magazine," it says. I'm picturing a story that includes the patterns for the items the PM will knit so your readers can knit their own royal blanket or something similar.... Mr McTernan told The Australian the office had "no power of veto" and "no creative control" in the shoot. Overington denied this and said the Prime Minister had brought her own make-up artist, stylist and three suitcases "full of clothes" to the shoot, but "ultimately decided to wear the ones we brought." One further problem for McTernan was that he was at the scene of the crime. joining a group shot of those who put together the Big Knit. If it wasn't his idea, then why didn't he stop it? But what are we to make of the argument that Gillard had no power of veto over what pose she strikes in a five-hour photo shoot? What this extraordinary press release from McTernan's office is really saying is: we know the knitting picture was a complete disaster: