This thread went wildly off course, and quite frankly it didn't need to. I'm Jewish and didn't take parens as anti-semitic. That's more of a Twitter thing.
To the OP: If there really is a ban difference for the UK for voluntarily leaving versus deported (and I don't know if there is), I'd go for the option that leaves you the most flexibility in the future. You can't predict the future. Don't take a bad situation and make it worse. More apart time now could save you future heartache in the future. Just my two cents.
If all else fails, there's always work visas in a third party country so you can be together
