Navibrator:
In 1982 it may well have been around the 90,000 figure, and could well have been on the way down. I won't dispute that, I wasn't in the RAF then (I was still letting my Mum cut my hair in 1982).
In 1990 however, I assure you there were just over 100,000. The cold war had swelled the numbers. I admit that the total dipped by an alarming rate not long after that.
Still, 90,000, 100,000, what's the difference? The point stands that the conservatives decimated the armed forces throughout the 1990's and are unlikely to reverse that trend.