A former Tory MP apologised to a woman he is accused of molesting and paid her £5,000, a court heard.
Charlie Elphicke told police that she asked for the cash following an incident in 2007.
He said he paid in instalments so his wife would not find out.
The dad-of-two, 49, admitted trying to kiss the woman at his London home while wife Natalie was away on business, but said he stopped when it became clear she was not interested.
He claimed they had been drinking wine and she fed him chocolates so he “believed she wanted to take matters further”.
Mr Elphicke said: “At first she responded positively, then it became clear it was not what she wanted.”
In excerpts played in court from a 2018 police interview, he said: “I was incredibly apologetic.
“She said she accepted my explanation, my apology, and that I’d been under a misapprehension.”
Mr Elphicke said the woman told him not to tell his wife what had happened, and to pay her £5,000.
He said: “I got it in smaller amounts – £500, £1,000 – because she was insistent Natalie shouldn’t know.”
The woman later alleged Elphicke groped her breast and chased her, chanting: “I’m a naughty Tory.”
A parliamentary worker has accused Elphicke of two sexual assaults in 2016.
Elphicke, succeeded as Dover MP by his wife in 2019, denies the charges.
The trial continues at Southwark Crown Court.
