Republican hopeful Herman Cain denies harassment claims

He rejected a report that he was accused by two women when he was head of America’s National Restaurant Association in the 1990s. Mr Cain, who has stunned the political establishment in the US with his rise to the top of the polls, issued the denial in an interview on Fox News.

“I have never sexually harassed anyone,” he insisted. He confirmed that he had been accused but denied the allegations and said he was not involved in any payout.

Mr Cain – a self-styled outsider relatively new to the national stage – faces a new level of scrutiny after a burst of momentum in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

He has been steadily at or near the top of national surveys and polls in early presidential nominating states. In his denials to the report published on the website Politico, Mr Cain said he did not know how the restaurant group had responded to the allegations.

Politico claimed there was a five figure settlement to the women.