Oh good grief! I can't believe that I am doing this, springing to the defence of a Tory administration, but here goes....
sevendwarfs,
Barkston Heath is home to the 2 Elementary Flying Training squadrons that supply the FAA and AAC with pilots, Syerston is home to the Air Cadets Central Gliding School and a couple of Volunteer Glider squadrons. Close them and you have to find new homes for all those units.
They are also bases with minimal or no infrastructure, they cost peanuts to run and are not valuable development land. Closing them would barely get you a Transit van let alone a GR4 Squadron!
Digby is a busy fully occupied station, if you close it you just have to spend a fortune relocating the resident units and reproviding them with infrastructure. Scampton IS closing.
Did you fail elementary economics?
As to the fantasy Island nonsense of a 9/11 attack on the RAF or Big Ben, what are you folk on??