"The L1011 was 'sold' to the RAF to make Thatcher's privatisation of BA work, to the tune of 60million quid."
???
At the time the press announced they had been gifted, free, along with the spares - just as the VC10s had been earlier
Otherwise the RAF would have had their preferred second-hand DC10s, which if memory serves correctly were offered by Branniff (who had presumably gone bust by then??)