TWO Scots at the heart of Australian politics are involved in a spat over spin doctors that would leave Malcolm Tucker spitting the kind of caustic, expletive-ridden venom which leaves his victims cowering in submission.

It began when Scots-born Australian Labour politician Doug Cameron launched a thinly veiled attack on the party's chief spin doctor, John McTernan, who was raised in Edinburgh and is the so-called "brain" behind Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Bellshill-born Senator Cameron has urged the embattled prime minister to "be herself", adding: "I think the prime minister should get rid some of these spin merchants that keep telling her what she's got to do.

"Why should I just take a view that some kid in the media department of some minister or the PMO [Prime Minister's Office] is telling me what I should say? This is nonsense."

While not mentioning 53-year-old McTernan by name, it is understood that the pair aren't soulmates.

Since his move to Australia in 2011, McTernan has been likened to Malcolm Tucker, the foul-mouthed Scottish spin doctor 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.

Criticism of the prime minister's communications strategy is emerging after months of internal grumbling and private attacks on McTernan from senior ministers.

Critics claim he doesn't realise Aussie politics isn't like the British scene, where he was once Tony Blair's director of political operations.

It comes as a poll, published in The Australian, shows dissatisfaction in the PM's performance has climbed from 59% to 62%, while only 28% of respondents are satisfied with her.

McTernan does share some similarities with the fictional spin doctor played by Scots actor Peter Capaldi. London born but brought up in the Edinburgh area, he certainly shares Tucker's Scottish accent.

McTernan was also the most high-profile New Labour special adviser in the department that employed Martin Sixsmith, the man who later advised the comedy series' writers on how the civil service works.

McTernan has praised the political role of "headkickers" while backing scare campaigns and negative attacks, arguing "fear beats hope".

A source in the British and Scottish trade-union movement has said: "Oh he can make enemies; f*** can he make enemies."

However, veteran British journalists who worked with McTernan took a different view. Some have described him as "charming, thoughtful and not at all forceful".

The Australian prime minister faced fresh criticism last week from one of her strongest supporters.

Long-time Labour MP Laurie Ferguson told Gillard she needed to better engage the electorate on the issue of border protection or "we are dead" in key western Sydney seats.

More than 11,000 immigrants are said to have arrived on boats so far this year. The PM is also under attack over an apparent breach of security when an Egyptian terrorist and convicted murderer was held in a low-security detention facility.

The latest disastrous polling figures have triggered questions of another comeback attempt from former prime minister Kevin Rudd, who is backed by Cameron.

Cameron came to Australia as a 22-year-old and said Glasgow's tradition of social activism and trade unionism had inspired him to fight for social justice.