People will ask why not?
Maybe he is being serious about the Sentinel? If a newspaper printed pictures for the general public, about what sort of aircraft the UK currently has, bet they'd include it. They'd include all those ones I've just posted above.
If the gap is there, then someone will be tasked to fill it with what we have.
I'm surprised more ex RAF Senior Officers haven't been up making some sort of capital about the recent events, in the Atlantic and the North Sea.
This is all small stuff in the great picture, callous though that is. What would happen these days if......we have a mid North Sea Ferry "Incident" or a Mid Atlantic but more our side of the pond Airliner ditching? This would be a major, major embarrassment, a potential election loser for a sitting UK Govt.
Only that sort of thing would focus a UK politicians mind, of the current generation.