Gullwings - The reason the RN is going to have so few picket ships to protect the CVF's is not down to some RAF dark plan (as some of the more blinkered CVF supporters might want to suggest) but purely due to lack of funds, something the entire military is victim of (any idea when the Canberra 'capability holiday' ends?) But even so, knowing that they would have to rape the rest of the surface fleet (and diesel-electric sub fleet) for the funds for these big, slow and arguably pretty pointless outside out of very specific circumstances carriers the RN has pressed ahead to get their late 20th centurary battleships.
Unlike the equally expensive N-boats I see little point in carriers that the RN will struggle to defend against even a moderate anti-ship threat due to lack of picket ships and without the assistance of significant land-based attack aircraft to suppress that threat.
I'm not anti-RN by a long shot, I just believe the single-minded zeal of certain members of the RN to have these carriers is damaging to the strength of a RN that has far more responsibilities than just those of running a mobile airfield for the RAF.