So now it looks like we didn't want/need an air superiority fighter on a capital ship. Strange choice.
Strange? Why? RN has been doing without any aircraft carrier at all for some time. And for decades it relied on Harriers as the only fighter aboard its carriers. F-35 is an exponential improvement over BOTH. Why is this vast improvement "strange"? Who/what do you think a single medium carrier is going to go up against?
Do you think equipping the new carriers with Rafale (or Su-33) instead of F-35B would have resulted in a better overall result? Really? Why?