Replacing the silent blocs was the first major job I ever did on the first A10 I ever owned and despite it being over 40 years ago I can still clearly remember thinking that they were too big to fit in the swingarm and was convinced I had the wrong parts....after watching me struggle for some time one of the more experienced mechanics did most of the work for me!
He also pointed out that there was nothing at all wrong with the original bushes (before I'd butchered them anyway) and the reason for the MoT failure was the oval hole worn in the mounting....!
I can understand that the idea of mounting a suspension component this way seems a little imprecise but in my experience it does actually work very well, granted most of that experience is with cars but, for example, if you were to replace the 8 silent blocs on say, Triumph Spitfire front wishbones, with the much harder pu bushes now available you definitely notice the change is not for the better and if you used solid bushes I would imagine the car would be very unpleasant to drive....so some degree of compliance is a good thing!
Also, and again from car experience, its very rare to ever see any evidence of the inner sleeve turning on the mounting bolt, its far more common for them to be totally seized together....
One last thought, I suspect that the method of actually bonding the rubber to the steel is not as good as it once was in some instances, and though it would be hard to notice on an A10 I have seen it happen more often nowadays on cars where the part is more visible....