A former MSP has told the Tommy Sheridan perjury trial that the Executive Committee of his party took a vote on whether they should give perjured evidence at his defamation case against a newspaper.
Carolyn Leckie attacked the way Mr Sheridan handled his dispute with the newspaper, saying it was disgusting he was putting his wife through this.
The court was also shown a 40-minute video in which a man alleged to be Mr Sheridan admits to going to a swingers' club.
Ms Leckie is a former parliamentarian who spent most of her evidence criticising Tommy Sheridan's decision to sue the News of the World.
She said when he allegedly confessed to visiting a sex club at a party meeting of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) "it was like being hit by a rocket".
She said the party did not want a civil action to go ahead adding "we wouldn't have had this whole circus here today if he had taken our advice".
Ms Leckie told the court: "We discussed the question of lying at the civil trial".
The court heard the Executive took a vote but decided by 13-2 with one abstention to tell the truth.
Miss Leckie was played a video where she identified the two men in it as Tommy Sheridan and a George McNeillage.
The video allegedly show Mr Sheridan admitting to going to a sex club but not having an affair with a woman from the north east of Scotland. The man also makes allegations about Miss Leckie's private life.
In evidence Carolyn Leckie said she had an affair with Alan McCombes, another senior figure in the SSP. Both are now in a relationship.
Maggie Scott QC for Mr Sheridan asked her: "As a feminist you could be seen as a hypocrite having had an affair with a married man?"
Miss Leckie said she had held her hands up and had not pursued defamation claims.
Mr Sheridan and his wife Gail, both 46, are accused of lying under oath during his successful 2006 defamation action against the News of the World. They deny the allegations against them.
He won £200,000 in damages after the newspaper printed allegations about his private life.
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