PM wrote about his crash in the Tornado in his own book and so it is very much in the public domain. It is a long time since i read the book, but IIRC he did go outside the SOPs as they then were, because he believed that you can't train for war using higher peacetime limits. (the crash was shortly after the first bout of unpleasantness). There is a world of difference between the flying environments of a Tornado pilot and an airline pilot. Most of the ex-fast jet pilots I know are superb commercial pilots, their CRM is good and their handling (once they get used to the fact that a wing over into a max rate descent spills the gin down the back) is excellent. Almost all of them find flying straight and level for hours with a change of ATC agency the most exciting thing happening is boring, and so do I. But I have not met another one like PM since the early days of my career.
No company fires a pilot without very good reasons and being VERY sure of it's legal rights. Getting a new pilot on line costs a heck of a lot of money, even if they arrive with all the relevant ratings, I see the bills for ours, to get rid of one normally means that the full disciplinary procedure has been followed, complete with ensuring that the person involved has had legal/union representation at all times. Thankfully I have had to do it only once and it was horrible. In the last 20 years of flying I have only seen it three times, and heard of it comparitively rarely. With the numbers of us working in the UK that is a mighty big clue as to how seriously companies take the procedure and the fact that most pilots realise that being sacked makes getting a new job difficult, and a tribunal makes getting a new job almost impossible.
I wonder if PM is following this line as he knows that his chances of employment with any other operator are slim and this is a way of generating some cash from the publicity. Maybe its' time he went back to his pet shop and presenting for TV