X Factor winner James Arthur has slammed The Sun newspaper for them publishing what he says is a slanderous story that claims he paid two female escorts to put on lesbian sex show for him.

The Sun ran the story after a young woman came forward claiming that he paid her and another escort to come to his flat and perform sex acts on each other, all while he kept his jacket, shirt, cap and socks on.

James immediately took to his Twitter account this morning and posted: “Apologies to those of my fans reading lies about me today. This is just another attempt by The Sun to assassinate the character of someone trying to do something positive with his life.

“It’s pure slander so I fight back sorry.”

He later also said: "I have f**king great feet too! Haha I'm doing my whole UK tour wearing only my guitar."

This isn’t the first occasion that The Sun has published a story about James involving his supposed quirky sexual habit of keeping his socks on. Back in March they reported that he invited a beauty therapist back to his flat and kept his socks on.