Croqueteer,
I can save you a little time reading. The answer to your question is quite easily answered. The captain requested a Mk 1 aircraft that had an IFR capability, for obvious reasons. He didn't get one. The MANAGEMENT could therefore be seen to have "planned" them to fly VFR.
Of course, there is no such thing as Public Transport in military terms. The passengers could and should have been sent by other means (for example, by civilian Public Transport) but the RAF hierarchy didn't allow this. It appears they were too intent on showing that the MK2 was safe to fly on a high priority task, despite the test pilots having refused to continue to fly the type for the purpose of giving the aircraft a Release to Service, the method by which new aircraft are normally deemed to be safe to fly. This is the MOD equivalent of a civilian Certificate of Airworthiness. The type should NOT HAVE BEEN IN SERVICE, not for training, testing or any other purpose and most definitely NOT for passenger flights.
The result was that an "operational" decision was made and it ended in disaster. Blaming the deceased pilots released the same hierarchy from further scrutiny.