SASless,
I think that it’s more a case of a capabilitybeing missing than ‘someone didn’t fill the gap’. Libya happened immediately afterwards and the Tornados and AH did some great work - but so would the Harriers have done. Obviously the target sets would have differed.
I think I’m right in saying that the vast majority of RN maintainers were found roles. A significant amount of the RN O3/O4 cadre walked (6 each) - as did a couple of O5 and one O6. (Bear in mind the cadre only supported 8 O5s).
I got the impression that the RAF manners did a good job of looking after the junior officer cadre on their side of the fence but that may not be how they viewed it themselves.
The seniors (O6 plus) in the RAF seem to have done alright.