This is absolutely not pointless. A government minister should be on top of his brief; the devil is in the detail. Our front line fast jet squadrons comprise typhoons and F35s. If you are armed forces minister and you either don’t know that or you allow your spad / civil servant write your speech, uncorrected for crucial detail you are not on top of your job. Sure, it may have been an error written in the heat of the moment. However the RAF / RN crews who are front line, highly trained personnel can only feel undermined by this lack of technical understanding. Maybe it’s just me.