GBZ,
In an ideal world, I'd keep all of the heritage and display stuff, but when the frontline is stretched to breaking, and we're getting rid of PR9, Jaguar, and Sea Harrier, when we've slashed the Nimrod MR force, when there aren't enough SH, and when there's a threat to the full Typhoon buy, to two of the existing GR4 squadrons, then no, none of the nice peripheral stuff should be kept.
GPMG,
We can't afford everything, and though I'd like us to be prepared for eventuality - that's a non-starter, and it's not what the defence assumptions plan for.
But if we do need to do something without the USA, and without our European allies, I guarantee that we'll need tankers, recce, SEAD, and all of the other stuff that we're sacrificing to pay for the CVFs, whereas there's no guarantee at all that we'll NEED carrier air.