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A close ally of Campbell Newman says the former Queensland premier is "disappointed" by the LNP's review into January's election loss.
Gavin King, who lost his Cairns seat at the election and is now writing Mr Newman's biography, described yesterday's LNP report by party elders Rob Borbidge and Joan Sheldon as "tough" and "warts and all".
Mr Newman's LNP government lost power on January 31, after only one term and despite holding more than 70 seats in the 89-seat Parliament.
The Borbidge-Sheldon review does not specifically name the former premier but, after receiving 700 submissions, declared there was "broad-based disappointment with the campaign and the election defeat".
"Undoubtedly, the leadership of the government contributed to the election loss," they wrote.
Their report highlighted a breakdown between the executive and the parliamentary wing, bad election timing, errors in judgment both on policy and politics, and the public's growing perception of a government that was arrogant.
But Mr King denied the former premier was an arrogant leader, describing him as "confident".
He said Mr Newman would have liked to have been more formally consulted in the review process.
"He's disappointed, he felt that he wasn't given probably a great opportunity by Joan and Rob in a more formal setting, in a more formal sense into the review," Mr King said.
"He feels that given the focus on him, he wasn't really afforded the opportunity that he would have liked.
"The accusations of hubris to me don't stack up particularly when you look at examples that the man offered to stand, he offered to resign - recognising and being and was self-aware that his personal brand was seriously damaging the government."
Political analyst Professor Anne Tiernan from Griffith University said the LNP's scathing review was an opportunity for rebuilding the party.
She said the inference that Mr Newman's leadership was partly to blame for the election loss was not the whole story.
"If you have an overweening leader who needs to be reigned in - as is some of the subtext - then isn't it incumbent on ministers to have something to say about that?" she said.
"So I don't see a lot about the cabinet process in here, which is what I think would be a really salient thing for them to think about."
Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg yesterday said he accepted the report's findings.
Topics: liberal-national-party-queensland, political-parties, government-and-politics, qld
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