Moira Deeming drops legal case against Victorian Liberal party and makes last-ditch bid to avoid disendorsement | Liberal party

Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming has dropped a lawsuit against her own party as she sought a last-ditch bid to have it disapproved ahead of the state election.

Deeming made an 11th-hour appeal to the high court on July 3 after Victorian Liberal party leader Brian Loughnane rejected calls for an apology after he alleged assault against former leader Matthew Guy and then Victoria police ruled “no wrongdoing had been established”.

Deeming announced late Wednesday that he was withdrawing the lawsuit.

“The injunction fully achieved its purpose,” he wrote in a statement posted on social media.

The MP, who sits in the upper house of the Western Metropolitan Region, faces rejection of his candidacy ahead of state elections in November.

On Wednesday, Deeming sent a 12-page statement to the party’s state leadership offering a mediation proposal that would allow it to end the high court case.

“Having all the evidence before them, the state government can now decide whether to mediate or reconvene to disapprove me,” he said.

“From beginning to end, I proceeded with the matter in good faith, respected the confidentiality of everyone involved, submitted to the party’s instructions and policies, and followed the law rather than taking the matter to the media.

“For my part, I will continue to do my job serving Victorians and fighting Labor.”

CCTV footage from an event in May shows Guy placing his hand on Deeming’s upper back as they leaned in to talk to each other.

Police reviewed the security cameras and concluded that no crime had been committed.

Deeming accused his colleague of “violently” putting him in a headlock, but later claimed he misunderstood the meaning of the headlock.

“I was abroad and when the story broke and I got jetlagged and I was sick when the confirmation meeting was called, the precaution gave me time to recover, go over all the facts, learn the difference between a headlock and a collar-and-tie hold, and gather my thoughts,” he later explained.

Guy told reporters in June that Deeming owed him a public apology, adding that he vehemently denied anything untoward had occurred.

“Moira Deeming owes me a public apology. You owe me an apology from the prime minister and the attorney general,” he said in front of parliament.

“They can come to me the honorable and easy way, or they can come to me the hard way.”

Liberal leader Jess Wilson did not comment on Deeming’s future on Wednesday because the matter was “in the courts.”