When starting his evidence in court, Spencer told jurors that on the day of the incident he had lunch with his father, the billionaire Conservative donor Lord Michael Spencer, before watching England play Wales at rugby at Twickenham.

His barrister Eleanor Laws KC asked him: “Did you deliberately place your hands on either woman? Did you intend to sexual assault anyone?”

Spencer answered “no” to both questions.

He told the court he drank wine at lunch and beers at the rugby, and assessed himself as “pissed”.

“When I walked into the Groucho, I was fine, in high spirits, merry, but not out of control,” he said.

He told the court he took a rickshaw home after being ejected from the club, but did not know at the time why he had been told to leave.

“It was bizarre, surprising,” he said.

“I assumed I was being loud, clottish, knocked over someone’s glass or had bumped into somebody – that’s what I quickly assumed.”

He said he returned to the Groucho the following week for a 70th birthday celebration for his aunt, and collected the jacket he had left behind on the night he was ejected.

The trial continues.

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