Old design or modern look-alike is irrelevent. When Nimrod 2000 became Nimrod whenever-if-ever, the writing was on the wall, and it is a pity the decision was not made to drop the axe a decade ago. Happily the important bit, the crews, are being retained one way or another, or at least the younger element are. One can pretty much assume that within five years, MPA will have returned under a different guise. With any luck it will have jet engines rather then second hand P3s and have a twenty year + service ahead of it. For sure the host airframe will not be British, and whilst that is a tragedy, we are bankrupt and cannot afford to be choosy. For many a decade we were the icing on the MPA cake and we have much to thank the Nimrod airframe for, but modification was never the answer, development of a new airframe was, and now we have lost all hope of either.
I would prefer it if we held Nimrods memory with the kudos it deserves and not the rose tinted farce that TSR2 has endured for the last 40 years. The price of democracy is military decisions being driven by those who know the square route of cock all.