I have settled on (but tell me if I'm wrong before I buy!)
So having read everything here and a host of other views and reviews I have settled on the following for my E... and with special thanks to Jack for bringing some of these to my attention...)
Zooms
1) 24-120. No brainer. Everyone seems surprised by how well it does.
2) 70-300 either Nikon or Tamron. The Tamron gets slightly better reviews in pretty much every department and there are corrections for it in LR4. I was going to look at the 80-400 but apparently both these 70-300s are notably better, lighter and cheaper and I'd rather give up the extra range in favour of these attributes and then rely on 'digital zoom' for further reach
I rarely do anything that needs these focal lengths and never for professional use so this should be fine as a compromise.
Primes
1) 20mm F2.8 sounds really useful: small, light, not too pricey, great to carry around in the bottom of the bag when the only other lens I have with me is the 24-120. Useful for certain kinds of landscape.
2) 50MM Leica R Cron (ROM version) with Leitax adaptor. I already have this lens so I might has well adapt it and have it as a good mid-ranger.
3) EITHER the 85 F1.8G (very nearly as good as the F1.4 but a lot cheaper) OR the 105 DC. Either of these will serve well for portraits. It's a pity neither has the benefit of VR, which I think may prove almost necessary at this focal length on the D800E. The advantage of the 10.8G is that it has way way better MTF performance at wide apertures, which helps mitigate the effects of no VR, but the bokeh won't be as good.
So given that I've got the Leica 50mm and the 24-120 already, I could have the full bagful for about £1,400 new if I went for the cheaper options. Then I'd have primes at wide, mid and portrait and zooms from 24-300.
Sound sensible? I am mildly concerned that the 20mm, 85mm and 70-300 are not in the Nikon technical document for enhanced sharpness with the D800E...