A and C, thank you for your "violent agreement"! I understand that the MAA is counting as independent airworthiness auditing the issue of ARC's by EASA. I am very suspicious of such moves by the MOD. I don't doubt for a minute the strict compliance that EASA demands of commercial aviation that you refer to, but does the same go for the military airworthiness of member states? The words "bite", "hand", and "feed" come to mind!
Unless and until Regulator, Investigator, and Operator (aka the MOD) are separate and independent of each other, UK Military Airworthiness will continue to remain blighted.