Labor's plan for Tony Abbott as PM Meet the Press, Ep 33, Seg2 KEVIN Rudd's closest political confidant workshopped a plan to remove Julia Gillard and briefly hand Tony Abbott the prime ministership before the 2013 election in order to damage Mr Abbott's chances at the polls, according to the insider's diaries. Labor strategist Bruce Hawker's diaries also reveal his desire to keep Bill Shorten in the dark about Mr Rudd's party reform plans amid fears he would soften his support for Mr Rudd, after Mr Hawker learnt Mr Shorten was deserting Ms Gillard. The book will also reignite the debate over the loyalty displayed before the 2010 and 2013 leadership changes, with the Rudd camp saying Ms Gillard's office fed key documents to NSW powerbroker Mark Arbib to undermine Mr Rudd. The diaries, to be released next week but obtained by The Daily Telegraph after they went on sale on a US website this week, reveal that Mr Rudd was so frustrated over coverage by The Daily Telegraph that Mr Hawker planned to employ the then Labor MP and former army colonel Mike Kelly to help combat the "psychological warfare." Talking with NSW independent MP Tony Windsor on June 13 about whether he would support Mr Rudd in a confidence vote, Mr Hawker said he asked if there was "any political advantage in voting Abbott into office, if only for a few weeks." It was speculatedMr Abbott cooled on a no-confidence motion as he wanted to take the prime ministership through an election, unlike Ms Gillard. "At the same meeting, he showed me an email Julia had sent to Kevin complaining about how his office had been dealing with a number of issues involving frontbenchers," Mr Hawker writes. It became pretty apparent to me that her office was copying Mark Arbib in on important documents that could be used against Kevin. Ms Gillard's office could not be contacted. Kevin Rudd his chief olitical advisor Bruce Hawker.