Another sorry week as Kevin Rudd ties up the west The circus surrounding the Labor Leadership resumed in western Sydney today, where Kevin Rudd is campaigning, meanwhile Julia Gillard had a run in with a Perth shock jock overnight Popular with voters .... former prime minister Kevin Rudd / Pic: Renee Nowytarger Source: The Daily Telegraph KEVIN Rudd yesterday declared he had learnt from the mistakes he made when he was prime minister, only hours before Australia's most powerful union further weakened Julia Gillard's grip on power. After another day of Mr Rudd demonstrating his popularity in marginal Sydney seats, momentum for leadership change gathered pace as MPs prepared to return to Canberra for the final two weeks of parliamentary sittings before the September 14 election. Australian Workers Union national secretary Paul Howes told The Weekend Australian the union's national leadership would not be directing any MPs to support Ms Gillard in any caucus ballot. "The AWU continues to support Julia Gillard and we believe it is in the best interests of the movement to remain united behind the Prime Minister," he said. We don't tell MPs how to vote. We don't do that. Mr Howes' comments were seen as significant because key AWU powerbroker, Employment Minister Bill Shorten, will play a pivotal role in the leadership drama. The latest development came after a difficult week for Ms Gillard, who was forced to endure two sexual smears and watch Mr Rudd make light of her suggestion that Coalition men "wearing blue ties" could soon snuff out the rise of female politicians. Mr Rudd was yesterday presented with a blue-and-white school tie after speaking about his leadership principles at a high school in a marginal Labor seat in Sydney's west. M r Rudd did not hesitate to change his red tie for the new blue one - and wore it all afternoon while receiving a rock-star reception from voters in Fairfield in the marginal seat of McMahon. Earlier in the week he campaigned in a pale blue tie only a day after Ms Gillard's comments. After campaigning in Reid, another marginal Sydney seat, the local MP John Murphy called on Ms Gillard to stand down for Mr Rudd. "I have no doubt Kevin Rudd will win the next election, not just save the furniture by limiting a big defeat," he told The Weekend Australian. In what was seen by Labor insiders as a continuation of his relentless campaign to reclaim the prime ministership, Mr Rudd confessed to more than 500 students at Fairfield's Patrician Brothers College that he should have praised his colleagues more when he was their leader. "One of the things I have been slow to learn is the importance of simply, privately and publicly acknowledging the good work of others," he said. He said he had learnt it was important to "bring people of the community and your political colleagues with you," when explaining decisions. In the hurly burly of public life ... sometimes you can leave that behind. He also said there had been a "mistake of communication" over his decision to defer an emissions trading scheme, leading people to believe it had been abandoned. After losing the prime ministership to Ms Gillard, Mr Rudd was criticised by colleagues for being a poor communicator who micro-managed policy. Ms Gillard's leadership has been tainted by her decision to introduce a carbon tax after promising during the 2010 election campaign not to do so. Mr Rudd told the students that if politicians failed to be "up-front" and explain clearly any policy changes it "does corrupt the trust people have in the political process." As leadership speculation bubbled, Ms Gillard retreated to the grounds of her old school in Adelaide, Mitcham Primary, after fending off questions from Perth shock jock Howard Sattler over whether her partner Tim Mathieson was gay. Only a day earlier Ms Gillard woke to revelations a Brisbane cafe owner had made jokes about her body while describing a chicken dish on a dinner menu he prepared for a fundraiser for Liberal candidate Mal Brough. Ms Gillard used the joke as evidence the Liberals under Tony Abbott were routinely derogatory towards women, but her attack was blunted by revelations the menu wasnot circulated.