It's a RN that is back filling the MN who were supposed to watch the Italians. All while the homeland is under threat of invasion.
yes. And, does that mean the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean took a fleet-in-being attitude? Hunkering down in their ports and waiting for better times? No.
Sure, although you need a crystal ball for Taranto from October 1940.
The point of mentioning an operation that took place a little later is to show what was the attitude of the Royal Navy in the Med. They did not wait and see. They actively resupplied Malta while looking for a fight with the Regia Marina, and challenged it time and again on its own turf, and eventually targeted it in Taranto. That gives you an idea of what happens to Italian destroyers who roam far from italy looking for Greek merchant ships.
GB is not ready to co-belligerent with Greece.
There is no co-belligerence involved. The Greek merchant ships try to stay as far from Italian bases as possible, the Italian cruisers go hunting for them, and unlukily they meet Royal Navy and RAF assets in those faraway corners of the Med, in international waters. The British sink the cruisers.
As to the British not being ready to be co-belligerents of Greece, the first RAF unit arrived on Greek soil in early Novemebr. Preliminary operations for the establishment of the Royal Navy base at Suda Bay began on October 29th!