By chief political correspondent Simon Cullen

Photo: Ms McKew claims Julia Gillard was part of a conspiracy against Kevin Rudd. (Alan Porritt, file photo: AAP)

Related Story: Shorten dismisses claims in new political memoir

Labor's leadership wounds have been reopened amid claims by former MP Maxine McKew that Julia Gillard was a "disloyal deputy" to former prime minister Kevin Rudd.

In a new book, Ms McKew has described Ms Gillard as being part of a conspiracy against Mr Rudd, saying she showed a colleague internal party polling that was critical of the then Labor leader in the days before launching a challenge.

Ms Gillard refused to respond to the claims on Friday, saying: "I've actually dealt with all of these issues before on the public record, and I'd just refer you to that."

"I haven't got anything to add."

In February, the ABC's Four Corners program revealed that Labor Party polling circulating in the week before the 2010 leadership challenge showed Ms Gillard was more popular with voters than Mr Rudd.

Ms Gillard told the program she did not have "specific recall of pages of party polling at the time".

Ms McKew's book, Tales from the Political Trenches, is due to be released on Monday and will refocus political attention on the events that led to the dramatic dumping of Mr Rudd.

Its release coincides with the return of Parliament for the penultimate sitting week of the year.

In the book, Ms McKew, who is also a former ABC television presenter, says senior Labor figure Anthony Albanese had warned Mr Rudd six weeks before the coup to watch his back because Ms Gillard was going for the leadership.

She also says one of Ms Gillard's key supporters, Brendan O'Connor, had shown the internal party polling to fellow frontbencher Robert McClelland - something Mr O'Connor flatly denies.

"Maxine has written a book, she's a very experienced journalist, you would think if she was going to make an assertion about my conduct, she'd give me the opportunity to respond to confirm or otherwise that assertion," he told ABC News 24 on Thursday.

"She did not."

But Mr McClelland, who was dumped from the frontbench by Ms Gillard, is standing by Ms McKew's version of events.

"I had a conversation with Brendan, and I recall he showed me that material," he told ABC radio on Friday.

"Obviously I don't know who else he spoke to, but certainly I can recall him showing me material of that nature.

"I have spoken to other people... who were shown similar material, yes."

Ms McKew, who is a strong supporter of Mr Rudd, has used her book to criticise the way Treasurer Wayne Swan handled the mining super profits tax, which was subsequently abandoned under Ms Gillard's leadership.

It was instead replaced by a new version of the tax that did not raise any revenue in its first three months of operation.

Old Labor wounds reopened in McKew memoir - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)