STOVL is the right choice for the new carriers as it reduces the amount of practice that pilots will need to be able to take off and land on them. It wouldn't be possible to be as flexible with where the UK's F-35s will be based (land or sea) if all pilots needed to stay current at CATOBAR landings.

That excuse is marvellously surreal, in a "Yes, Minister" way.

"We are going to spend an extra $25M on each fighter, in order to save on training costs."

$3.5Bn (we're buying on the order of 138 of these turkeys: the F-35B, as required for the STOVL role, costs $25M more per unit than the F-35C or A) will buy you a lot of CATOBAR training.

We don't want pilots to have to spend all their time doing CATOBAR training.

I could see a mix of models being bought eventually with a lot fewer than 138 F-35Bs.

We seemed to manage OK with training in the days of the old Ark Royal (I vaguely remember the "Sailor" BBC series).