Victorian upper house MP Moira Deeming has been dumped as a Liberal candidate after the party’s state executive unanimously voted to revoke her endorsement for November’s state election.

The decision removes Mrs Deeming from the top position on the Liberal ticket for Western Metropolitan Region and could bring her turbulent parliamentary career to an end when her current term expires.

Three-quarters of the state executive was required to support disendorsement, but the motion passed unanimously on Friday evening.

In a statement, the Leader of the Opposition Jess Wilson said, The State Executive of the Victorian Liberal Party has resolved that Moira Deeming will no longer represent the Party as a candidate for the Western Metropolitan Region in November. This matter is now concluded.

Mrs Deeming remains a Liberal Party member and, for now, a member of the parliamentary Liberal team. The vote does not remove her immediately from the Legislative Council, but it ends her endorsed path to re-election and leaves the party needing to choose a replacement candidate for the region.

The decision followed weeks of internal conflict over allegations Mrs Deeming made against former Victorian opposition leader Matthew Guy after an interaction at a community event on May 23.

Mrs Deeming alleged Mr Guy had grabbed her in a manner she initially described as feeling like “some kind of headlock”. She later acknowledged that “headlock” was the wrong term but maintained she had been grabbed, held and pulled with force, causing her pain and distress.

CCTV footage showed Mr Guy placing his hand around Mrs Deeming’s upper back or shoulder as they leaned towards each other during a conversation at the crowded function.

Mr Guy consistently denied assaulting Mrs Deeming and demanded a public apology. Victoria Police reviewed the footage and said that, following a thorough investigation, “no offence” had been detected.

Opposition Leader Jess Wilson backed Mr Guy’s demand for an apology, but Mrs Deeming refused, arguing she had made her complaint in good faith and had followed the Liberal Party’s internal processes.

In a 12-page submission to the state executive, Mrs Deeming said she could not apologise for using the party’s confidential complaints procedures and warned that removing her could discourage members from raising concerns about the conduct of colleagues.

“I should not be subjected to public vilification or professional retaliation for doing so,” she said.

Mrs Deeming proposed mediation and a joint statement acknowledging that Mr Guy had intended a friendly gesture in a noisy environment and had not realised she was experiencing distress.

The proposal failed to persuade the executive, which united behind Mr Guy and voted to end Mrs Deeming’s candidacy. She was given an opportunity to address executive members before the decision was made.

The party had originally planned to consider her disendorsement on July 3, but Mrs Deeming launched urgent Supreme Court action against Liberal Party state president Brian Loughnane in an attempt to stop the meeting.

The party agreed not to proceed with the vote while the legal dispute remained before the court. Mrs Deeming withdrew the proceedings on Wednesday after submitting her statement and mediation proposal to the executive, clearing the way for Friday’s meeting.

Mrs Deeming said the injunction had achieved its purpose by giving her time to recover, examine the evidence and prepare her response.

“The state executive, having all the evidence before them, can now decide whether to pursue mediation or reconvene to disendorse me,” she said before withdrawing the case.

The executive chose disendorsement.

The result marks another reversal in a chaotic preselection process for the Western Metropolitan Region.

Mrs Deeming initially lost the number-one position on the Liberal ticket in March.

Ms Wilson publicly supported Mrs Deeming following that outcome, but the relationship deteriorated after the allegations against Mr Guy and the subsequent apology stand-off.

The unanimous executive vote gives Ms Wilson a decisive outcome as she attempts to present a united opposition ahead of the November election, but it also reopens questions about internal Liberal divisions and the selection of a replacement candidate in Melbourne’s west.

Mrs Deeming’s relationship with the Victorian Liberal Party has been marked by repeated disputes since she entered parliament after the 2022 election.

In 2023, she attended the Let Women Speak rally outside Parliament House, which was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis. She was subsequently suspended and then expelled from the parliamentary Liberal Party following a dispute with then-opposition leader John Pesutto.

Mrs Deeming later successfully sued Mr Pesutto for defamation. The Federal Court found he had defamed her by falsely suggesting she was associated with neo-Nazis, and she was eventually readmitted to the Liberal parliamentary team.

The financial consequences of that case remain unresolved.

NSW businessman Hilton Grugeon, who funded Mrs Deeming’s successful legal action, has sought repayment. The Liberal Party provided Mr Pesutto with a $1.55 million loan to help meet legal costs awarded to Mrs Deeming, but the money remains in a trust account while a separate Supreme Court challenge to the party loan continues.

Mrs Deeming has warned that she could face bankruptcy if she cannot repay Mr Grugeon. Bankruptcy could force her removal from parliament before her term ends.

Her options now include contesting the election as an independent, seeking the support of another political party or leaving parliament when her term expires.

One Nation had previously made public approaches to Mrs Deeming during her earlier preselection difficulties, although more recent reporting indicates Pauline Hanson has ruled out recruiting her.

The Liberal Party will now turn to replacing Mrs Deeming on its Western Metropolitan ticket as it prepares to challenge the Allan Labor government at the state election, which is due to be held on the final Saturday of November.

For Mrs Deeming, the unanimous vote brings to an end another bruising fight with her own party. She remains an MP and a Liberal member, but after surviving expulsion, winning a defamation case and regaining preselection, she will no longer contest the coming election as a Liberal candidate.

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