Colin Craig has been explaining line by line the contents of a romantic poem he wrote to former press secretary Rachel MacGregor.
The former Conservative Party leader is giving evidence in his own defence in a defamation action, and insists he wrote the poem to build Ms MacGregor's confidence.
Mr Craig was asked to read to the court the contents of a romantic poem he wrote Ms MacGregor under the guise of Creative Colin, ending with the line "you are beautiful because you have the most perfect dot dot dot".
He said the "dot dot dot" was to "get them thinking".
"I just leave them to fill in the gaps or fill in the blanks. They were to say, 'Look, write the rest, fill in the rest.'
"I didn't necessarily have anything in mind when I wrote that."
Mr Craig insisted his poetry was simply to make Ms MacGregor feel valued.
"I was trying to encourage her and build her up."
Rachel MacGregor
Earlier, though, Mr Craig suggested Ms MacGregor had two versions of him.
"Colin, who's the guy who was fun to work with, who paid for her to go on a day's spa and then lent her a car and lent her money and helped her out and who had great conversations.
"She has another version of events with me, which is dodgy and disgusting and all those other things. I don't believe that that is correct."
Jordan Williams is taking Mr Craig to court about a leaflet, which includes a "Mr X", acknowledged to be a nom de plume, a literary device based on several contacts.
"I guess there are some people who would view using a nom de plume as dishonest," says Mr Craig. "I don't view it that way; it's a literary device."
When he sent the leaflet out to 1.6 million people, Mr Craig had already stood down from the leadership of the Conservative Party.
He said as soon as a confidentiality clause was agreed on Ms McGregor's sexual harassment claim, he knew he was history.
Mr Craig's next witness is his wife, Helen.
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