I know that this topic has been discussed before and sorry to those who are bored by it but...
IMHO I think the UK phraseology is verbose and unnecessary.
As Riverboy says: if told "cleared ILS" the crew should maintain the last assigned altitude until intercepting the GP.
Just work out for yourselves how much extra R/T time is involved with the UK phraseology compared to what is used in the rest of Europe. And yes I know that we have a hashed compromise in "turn right HDG *** degrees, when esablished LOC descend ILS" but this is still awfully verbose. Non-UK crews often are hesitant in their response to the UK phraseology because it is not ICAO standard.
During a period of controlling in Europe, I have used the ICAO phraseology and find it simple, clear and unambiguous. Is that not the point of R/T?
Whilst I am on my soap-box... can anyone explain to me why, in the UK, we are still saying "after" instead of the ICAO standard "behind" with a conditional clearance?