Gullwings: you've pretty much nailed the point, but I will spin it in a slightly different way
That is that if the Royal Navy think/thought organic fleet air defence and carrier strike indispensable, and requiring to be manned by sailors rather than airmen then (regardless of conspiracy theories as to who sabotaged what) the Royal Navy should have put its hands in its pockets and bloody well prioritised and paid for that capability.
If it was the RAF's green eyes seeing the utter awesomeness of the SHAR and how much of a threat it was to light blue aviation and hence set about trashing the FAA, then surely the ADMIRALS' duty was to protect not give up that capability.
That they didn't is a failing of the Royal Navy, and while the demise of the RAF's Harrier force was extremely regrettable, it really wasn't an anti Navy conspiracy but protection of a much larger force when the threat was an economic one.
The pissing contest of which aircraft type was the most capable will never be won, because neither side will modify their quasi fanatical views on their chosen champion, but quantity was the trump card when salami slicing was an invalid cost cutting technique and the loss of an entire type was the only answer.
Sharkey and his ilk need to direct their ire somewhere it's just a shame that it turns out to be paranoid and misplaced in large part when there could be some decent points to be made and sometime respected credibility to be used rather than ridiculed.