Nursey,
If by some mischance we withdrew the F3s and then had to recover the Falklands, without coalition support, we would be f*cked without carriers.
If we needed to drop paras at Brigade strength, we'd be hard pressed.
If we needed to make a full-on cavalry charge, we'd be b*ggered.
But with shrinking budgets, and with increasing costs of defence equipment, we can't hope to be able to do everything that we used to do.
And if we have to cut corners, it's better by far to ditch the higher cost capabilities that we are least able to need and to concentrate on those areas that make us most useful to our allies, and that we do best.
As for Dip Cs, they were there for Dakar during Palliser, long before the carrier got there.
Bismarck,
UK commitment was certainly useful to the Yanks, but what they asked for first were R1s and PR9s and then tankers, and I'll bet they'd have welcomed one more R1 or a couple more VC10s than they welcomed Illustrious, that just got in the way, without generating a meaningful sortie rate or effect.