We just had a brief from a member of the RAF board and he said they put forward a very strong caser to keep the MR4A but it was the PM who dismissed the advise and chopped the fleet. I believe the RAF fought very hard to retain the strategic capability but the PM had a number of options presented to him and chose the Nimrod. As has been said previously, strategic folly for an Island nation. We should have ditched entire Helo fleets (Puma, Merlin) and maybe E3D over the ASW capability.
I can only imagine the Navy must be equally appalled as they now have only limited short range ASW capability to protect the bombers and their precious new carriers. This decision, IMHO, will come back to haunt us.