Ah yes, in the same way that there was no way we would buy any P8s because there was no money.
Don't forget that the commitment to 138 is over the life of the programme, and that's a very long time. I understand current plans are for an eventual 4 front line sqns.
Seems to me that a plausible scenario (before the idea of a split buy was raised) was therefore a maximum holding of 90 or so airframes at any given time, with a much later buy of 48 or so late model Bs to replace the initial 48 and cover the second half of the carriers' lives.
Would a force comprising 2 sqns of B and 2 of A work?