Since my other thread has causes so much angst, I thought I'd try a more light hearted one - so, you have 10-odd billion £, you don't have to worry about 'buying British' (although avoid straying out of NATO) and your brief is to create a good all purpose airforce for the UK. See what you all come up with.
So, if you're bored - have a go!
I'll freely admit i'm no expert, but I believe a left field choice would be Gripen for a Ground support aircraft - small, capable of being refuelled/armed by a team of five off rough airstrips close to the front line, good payload, yet with radar and capable of looking after itself! Plus about half the cost of Typhoons, Dave B/C, Rafale, F/A-18...even if its shorter range means it'd be less useful in the interdiction/bombing role.
Also, as a disclaimer I apologise profusely if this has been done before, I did have a quick skim but couldn't see one like it.