An exiled Victorian Liberal MP should have “run in the opposite direction” when neo-Nazis gatecrashed a rally she had organised, one of her former colleagues says.

Retired Liberal MP Matt Bach gave evidence in the Federal Court on Tuesday in Moira Deeming’s defamation trial against Victorian Liberal Leader John Pesutto.

Deeming claims Pesutto defamed her by suggesting or implying she was a Nazi in comments he made following the Let Women Speak rally.

The March 2023 event was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis who performed the Nazi salute on the steps of the state parliament.

Pesutto denies any wrongdoing.

Bach gave his evidence in Melbourne after being ordered to fly back from Britain where he is working as a teacher following his retirement from politics.

He told the court he expected any Liberal MP to “run as fast as their legs would carry them” if a group of neo-Nazis arrived at their event.

“My expectation would be turn and run in the opposite direction as fast as they could,” he said.

Bach said there were concerns the media or the Labor government would draw links between the neo-Nazis at the rally and the Liberals, which would hurt the party politically.

“It would have been an own goal to wait and allow something to play out,” he told the court.

The day after the rally, Bach attended a meeting with Deeming, Pesutto and other members of the Victorian Liberals leadership team.

Bach said he wanted Deeming to renounce the views of fellow rally organisers Angie Jones and Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, and distance herself from them.

“I became convinced after listening for so long that [Deeming] wasn’t going to be able to do that,” he told the court.

“I became concerned that she didn’t understand the seriousness of what we were talking about.”

Bach denied the group ganged up on Deeming, instead insisting the meeting had been “perfectly fair”.

“I had more robust conversations with 11 year olds most weeks than this,” he told the court.

The meeting was secretly recorded by deputy Liberal leader David Southwick and played to the Federal Court at the start of the defamation trial.

It featured Deeming being hauled over the coals for her involvement in the rally as well as images of her having champagne afterwards with the other organisers.

Bach became aware of the recording only in September, but he said he wasn’t surprised.

He told the court former Victorian premier Ted Baillieu warned him on his first day in parliament that it was common for Liberal Party meetings to be surreptitiously recorded.

The defamation trial continues.

-AAP