John Healey ‘speechless’ over stretched defence budget funding ‘woke’ electric rally cars

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1. ***From The Telegraph:***

   Cash from the stretched military budget was splurged on sponsoring a “Formula Woke” racing team, an audit of defence spending has revealed.

   Taxpayers’ money meant for front-line troops was instead used to emblazon the [Ministry of Defence](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/ministry-of-defence/)’s logo on the mudflaps of an electric rally car.

   [John Healey](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/06/ukraine-defence-contact-group-john-healey-nato-peace-plan/), the Defence Secretary, has now cancelled the £5 million contract with McLaren after being left “speechless” by the “waste”.

   It is the first concrete result of a line-by-line review of public spending, which [Rachel Reeves](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/02/08/bank-england-not-coming-save-rachel-reeves-no-one-is/) has ordered in a bid to make billions of savings.

   The Chancellor has told all departments to comb through their accounts and identify examples of wasteful spending which can be scrapped.

   Defence sources said that Mr Healey had intervened to cancel the partnership with McLaren, which was set to cost taxpayers more than £5 million.

   Under the deal, signed just last year by the Tories, the MoD sponsored the mudflaps of an Extreme E rally car and got free staff tickets to rally events.

   The competition was first launched in 2021 and only managed to hold four races out of a planned roster of 10 before it was cancelled at the end of last year.

   **Read more:** [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/02/08/john-healey-defence-budget-woke-electric-rally-cars/](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/02/08/john-healey-defence-budget-woke-electric-rally-cars/)

2. Telegraph shocked that sponsorships actually work. More at 11.

3. what’s up with the americanisation of British politics, since when do we use “woke” to describe electric vehicles? wtf is a “Formula Woke”. So childish, I don’t need all these stupid buzzwords to understand what they are reporting

4. Or is it more part of the amazing charity Mission Motorsport that helps returning or injured service members find a new career in Motorsport either driving or trackside?

5. How can a technology be woke?

6. Electric cars are woke now? So Elon Musk is woke by proxy?

7. It’s not the car that’s “woke” it’s the competition rules that the car competes in that are considered “woke”.

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