The 'new' Nimrods were anything but new as the basic airframe is ancient, they were not new builds. Its also true that to say that they were hideously expensive. £4.3 billion for 9 aircraft which must give the B2 a run for its money for the prize of the most expensive aircraft in the world.
The Project is 9 years late, had tripples in cost, only one was flying and that had failed some of its tests. It was and is a classic example of how not to buy anything.
To put it another way, the RAF could buy a dozen of the new P8 aircraft entering service in the USA, give every person who loses their job a cash tax free payoff of £500,000 and still save £2 billion.
It was a bad idea and a disaster of a project.