I really don't think they intentionally went out to mislead the public at Waddington, I think they went there in good faith that the permit would be given and they'd be able to display
I don't think that at all - and many other people don't either. I think it's pretty clear that they knew only too well what was likely to happen. It was either a cynical attempt to pressure the CAA, or an equally cynical attempt to persuade people to pay-up and attend a show in order to see an aircraft fly that clearly wasn't going to fly at all.
The most generous explanation that anyone could seriously offer is that they simply hoped that the situation would be resolved - hardly a professional approach, is it? Either way it was a very shabby episode which did VTTS/TVOC no favours at all.