Well the confirmation of replacement airframe for R1 was pretty much bolstered today by one of the JOB advertisments appearing for the civil service.
They were advertising for someone to supervise the out of service of the MR2
and R1.
Still no official announcement though
Apparently the run down of the R1 and replacement with RJ are being actioned as separate projects to avoid concerns with civil service issues e.g. Tupe etc. Also worth noting that a lot of people in one of the support units were offered early release by next April today...totally unconnected of course.
Edit: The early release scheme is the current MoD civil service attempt at reducing numbers by offering early retirement and voluntary redundancy to people.