ACM Jock is irrelevant to this. A long line of 1SLs have sold the Fleet for jam tomorrow. A cash strapped government is directed by the Treasury. People who believe that defence is a misuse of taxpayers money gravitate, often via MoD (Centre), to the Treasury. "Sharing" capabilities is the "thinking" person's solution to defence within Europe. Froggy has a problem; we help. Notice recent events? We have a problem; Froggy helps. Simples. It will be intersting to see how this works should s**t happen in the Caribbean or South Atlantic.
It's all about cash. National pride, duty and obligation means nothing to these bottom line balance sheet buggers.