Wow. The Defence Investment Plan. I have spoken to a number of very senior sources this evening and it is, frankly, a circus behind the scenes. The dates now circulating may well be the plan. But discussions are still live, with changes being made late in the day and not cleanly.
I understand that those working around this announcement have seen planning change not day by day but hour by hour over the past few days. Arrangements made in the morning have not survived to the evening.
Industry is frozen and earlier today I spent time with a major player in the UGV world, who told me the delay has effectively stopped the customer community from starting anything, because any programme begun now could be cancelled the moment the plan lands. Everything is paused, waiting to see what the document says. In the meantime, they said, the lack of UK spend has forced British-based firms to chase business in Europe, the Middle East and the US instead, in a field the UK once led and has let drift.
The settlement between the MoD and the Treasury may be being agreed at some level, but the manner of the past few days suggests rather less is settled than the official line implies. Even by the standards of this process, in which autumn became Christmas and Christmas became spring, the degree of last-minute change is something I have not seen before.
As ever, things may shift again and it is a case of believe it when you see it. But this is where things stand as of this evening, this is unprecedented.