Nigel Evans told police a ex Westminster worker who accused him of sexual assault was "Machiavellian" and at the "centre of the web" of a plot against him, his trial heard. He denies all charges against him.
MP Nigel Evans has denied sexually assaulting a young man on the sofa at his house in July 2009.
Speaking in the witness stand at his trial over alleged sex offences, Evans accepted that he made an "approach" and that he touched the complainant.
Asked if the touching was sexual, he said: "I did get under the duvet or blanket and I did put my arm around him.
"We laid together for a while with my arm around him and his hand holding mine. When my hand started to move down, he slowly brushed it away."
The MP said he held the young man before moving his hand down again, at which point the alleged victim "exploded and said 'No'".
Mr Evans said his hand got no further down than the top of the young man's belt - though this was refuted by the complainant.
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