Skipness One Foxtrot
I think much of the 'upset' is how uk.gov goes about this. Instead of buying the aircraft outright and operating them in-house, they contract to a private company who needs to make a profit and who in turn is leasing from ALC who needs to make a profit. And of course when they go for mx the maintenance provider needs to make their profit. So we're paying extra as tax-payers to make sure that everyone else down the stack gets their margin.
I've no issue about the Government using a small fleet of suitable aircraft for special missions, but there's no consideration of commonality with the RAF fleet ( e.g. BBJ - Poseidon - Wedgetail ) nor any interest in maintaining the institutional skills built through 60 years of RAF transport provision.