Yes - Cameron was certainly not good with details. Liam Fox also bears much of the blame for ignoring evidence and insisting he knew best. I do know (from people who worked for them) that the First Sea Lord and other Admirals fought as hard as they could to preserve the ability to keep putting jets on deck.
Also, both the RN and RAF expected a manpower uplift of roughly 1500 people in the run up to SDSR 15, which was supposed to come from a transfer of manning liability for the Army. Needless to say he panicked about cutting 'troop numbers' so it did not happen.
As part of SDSR 10, RN personnel numbers were cut without much thought to the future. One effect of that was to cause many people to spend more time deployed, which has obviously impacted retention.
Last edited by WE Branch Fanatic; 16th Dec 2017 at 19:22.