I also recall the same crusading Express bannering the headline 'Red Arrows to be Axed!' when I was working on my book about them one Sunday in 2004 at Kemble. Reporters were hopping around the hospitality marquee trying to tap (or was that
trap?) a comment from Red 1 (then, Sqn Ldr Spike Jepson) who fielded the questions with great aplomb. As you'd expect.
Of course, the very next weekend, it was the Express once again who bellowed, 'We Saved the Red Arrows!', claiming the readers themselves had changed the minds of money men by sending in thousands of protesting views. Newspapers love kicking around these stories to show their readership they're making a difference; it's what sells papers and we always seem to fall for it. That's not to say a civil servant - or a politician - on the climb up the Whitehall ladder hasn't at one time, tried to meddle with RAFAT.
I think you'll find the team take it in their stride, treating all these mischievous stories as 'all good
PR'.