Michael Vaughan’s sponsors begin to distance themselves from the former England captain amid the racism storm after the BBC stood him down from his cricket radio show earlier this month

• Michael Vaughan’s sponsors have distanced themselves amid his racism storm 
• The England captain is accused of racially abusing players of Asian heritage 
• Men’s outfitters Charles Tyrwhitt said they are ‘monitoring the situation closely’
• The BBC are facing calls to drop Vaughan from their Ashes coverage this winter 

Michael Vaughan’s sponsors began distancing themselves from the former England captain on Monday. 

A spokesperson for upmarket men’s outfitters Charles Tyrwhitt released a statement saying they were ‘aware of the allegations against Michael Vaughan and will be monitoring the situation closely over the coming days’. 

Two of Vaughan’s long-term backers NatWest and Yorkshire Tea told Sportsmail they no longer work with England’s historic Ashes-winning hero, but the cessation of his commercial work predates the current storm triggered by his admission that he is named in the independent report into allegations of racist abuse made by Azeem Rafiq.

Michael Vaughan’s sponsors have distanced themselves from the former England captain

The BBC pundit is accused of racially abusing his former Yorkshire team-mates in 2009

But other sponsors could desert him depending on the outcome of Tuesday’s potentially explosive select committee hearing. 

Rafiq will give evidence at the department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport at which he will be asked about Vaughan’s alleged comments that ‘there’s too many of you lot, we need to do something about it’ before Yorkshire’s T20 match against Notts in 2009. 

Vaughan’s deal with NatWest came to an end earlier this year when the bank were replaced by online car retailer Cinch as England’s main shirt sponsor, and Yorkshire Tea said they had not worked with him since June 2020. 

A spokesman for Hardy’s Wines, who have used Vaughan since 2015, declined to comment when asked about their relationship. 

Vaughan was stood down by the BBC from his cricket radio show and there is pressure to drop him from their Ashes coverage.

Yorkshire Tea (pictured) stopped working with Vaughan this summer while other sponsors have distanced themselves

A spokesperson for Hardy’s Wines declined to comment when asked about their relationship with Vaughan (left)

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