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Though we couldn't park a fleet of Harriers off the coast even if we wanted to.
True but then neither can Poland and they still managed to evacuate their nationals (and some of ours) before the UK. I agree I doubt that we would have the assets to conduct a NEO in an all but permissive environment or anything like an intervention in another nation's affairs. However, (as far as I know) the UK Government is not intending to conduct either of these. The UK military is doing (as it has in the past) what is required of it by the UK government.
E L Whisty
What a delightful turn of phrase. Your point that nothing was ready to go when the civvy options ran out (although, I note, the other nations and the oil companies still managed to get charter aircraft to fly in and out of Tripoli) confirms my point that this demonstrates in failures of the 'FCO's civil contingeny plan and/or decision making process'.
Of course you may my sit on the COBRA committee or be part of the DCMO and know better; however, from the evidence available through open source it would appear that the UK Armed Forces provided the capability that was requested by the FCO when the FCO requested it.
For my part I do agree that we are taking enormous risks with our - lack of - military capability. However, this particular instance does not demonstrate it. Until we can, then the Treasury will continue to cut. Unfortunately the country is broke; therefore, the Government has decided to cut expenditure in order to balance the books. In doing so it has had to accept that it does so at risk. ie:
a. fewer FCO people to organise evacuations.
b. fewer military assets to conduct evacuations when civil contingeny plans prove insuficient (possibly as a result of a.).
The nasty thing about 'risks' (things that may happen) is that they have an annoying habbit of becoming 'issues' (things that are happening). If you can't afford to mitigate a risk then you, invariably, end up spending a lot more to put right an issue.
Back in 1988 a young Climebear played a very minor part in Exercise PURPLE WARRIOR in West Scotland that was based on a NEO involving a naval task group, 2 brigades (3 Cdo Bde and 5 (AB) Bde), significant air (C130s, numerours helicopters, 1(F) Sqn Harriers, 43(F) Sqn Phantoms...), quite an undertaking. Fast forward to 2006 when an older and more cynical Climebear is involved in the contingency planning for a real NEO (albeit that it wasn't required in the end) he finds that he only has one ship (albeit a big one) with a handful of RMs and a few small boats, 1 infantry battallion (with additional combat support elements), and (perhaps) a handful fo helicopters to play with. I would imagine that the same planner today would have significantly fewer assets.
The military fall back is not, therefore, the get-out-of-jail-free card that it once was; I would contend that it may well never be again. This is similar to the vast majority of countries around the world. Therefore, the UK will need to adjust its mindset accordingly and either make decisions to evacuate earlier and use civil means(even if this could compromise strategic intent), or work with other nations (though this too has its problems - it's hard enough getting the UK government to decide to call an evacuation, just imagine, say, trying to get all of the EU governments (each with their own levels of strategic interest in the subject country) to decide). I just hope that the UK Armed Forces don't find themselves involved in a NEO in a hostile environment; but, until we get to the situation when our Chiefs have to say no, then the Government isn't going worry about the level of risk it is currently carrying.
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