John Lydon has slammed late punk contemporary Joe Strummer as a hypocrite for preaching a socialism while living a posh lifestyle.

The Sex Pistols icon - also known as JOHNNY ROTTEN - claims THE CLASH star Strummer used his endorsement of a concert series organised by anarchist group Class War to feed his ego.

He says, "Joe Strummer, God bless him, he's gone and he shall be missed. But how dare he preach class war with an organisation like that (the late '80s Rock Against the Rich movement).

"Living in a huge house in Holland Park (west London). Every photo opportunity to be seen on a bus in his leather jacket and then he went back to a palace. You're not getting it quite right there! That's where his image mattered more to him than the reality. He was trying to con us. In a nice way and for the right reasons but once you start lying, it carries on and on and on."