Tuc,
I like to think I'm fair-minded, and would not be so quick to blame MoD(PE) for any spares issues.
As one of the chosen few who worked 14 hour days in New Oxford Street and then Abbey Wood, I don't blame the team(s) who ended up having to deliver this. It was the complete lack of vision and foresight at 2* level that led to this. Yes, of course there were political considerations, but to spend 5 years on detailed analysis and competition, only to then completely ignore those finding for political expediency is culpable negligence, and we are paying the price for that negligence today (12 years later) in operational capability and availability.
Senior Procurement nebbies all use Apache as the poster child for delivering "On schedule, on performance, within budget". It doesn't take a hard look to see how you achieve that by ripping the guts out the program.
Apache's success is down to the graft and commitment from the people who ended up bringing in to service and operating it, but that's the way it's always been.