In a dim and distant Golden Age, the people of Middle England knew where they stood: they knew what was right, what was wrong and who the saboteurs were.

But nearly three whole months have passed since then. The sands of time have eroded the old certainties and now, for readers of the Daily Mail, the saboteurs are a different group altogether.

Under the helm of editor Paul Dacre they were told the saboteurs were the “game-playing remoaners” who would be “crushed” by “the new Iron Lady” Theresa May.

“Crush the saboteurs”, cried the front page on 19 April 2017, as the Mail cheered on the PM’s plan to call the bluff of the “‘game-playing’ Remoaners’” in a snap election which didn’t exactly turn out as Ms May, or Mr Dacre, expected.

But two and a half long months after Mr Dacre vacated the editor’s chair, it seems the saboteurs are now the “preening Brexiteers”.

Daily Mail, April 19 2017

Under the new stewardship of pro-Remain editor Geordie Greig, the newspaper chose on Friday to respond to the chaos descending on Ms May’s attempts at Brexit by telling readers: “As preening Tory saboteurs undermine the PM, their party, Brexit – and Britain’s future – the Mail asks simply …. Have they lost the plot?”

“Brexiteers plotting to topple Theresa May faced a ferocious Tory backlash last night,” said the news story, as the front page editorial denounced “the peacocking saboteurs”

Daily Mail, November 16 2018

The old king had warned of what might happen should there be even a hint of cooling ardour for Brexit at the Daily Mail. As he prepared to step down, Mr Dacre wrote an article in The Spectator that many chose to interpret as a not-so-coded warning to his successor Mr Greig.

"Support for Brexit," he wrote, "Is in the DNA of both the Daily Mail and, more pertinently, its readers. Any move to reverse this would be editorial and commercial suicide.”

Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Show all 13 1 /13 Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Esther McVey Britain's Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey arrives to attend the weekly meeting of the cabinet at 10 Downing Street in London. - Britain's Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey resigned from the cabinet over draft Brexit deal AFP/Getty Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Handout image taken from the Twitter feed of @EstherMcVey1 of the resignation letter addressed to Prime Minister Theresa May from Works and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Thursday November 15, 2018. Ms McVey has resigned, saying the Brexit deal âdoes not honour the result of the referendumâ. See PA story POLITICS Brexit. Photo credit should read: @DominicRaab/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder. PA Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Dominic Raab British Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab give a press conference at the end of the final round of talks in Brexit negotiations at the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium EPA Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Handout image taken from the Twitter feed of @DominicRaab of the resignation letter addressed to Prime Minister Theresa May from Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Thursday November 15, 2018. Mr Raab has resigned, saying he âcannot in good conscience support the terms proposed for our deal with the EUâ. See PA story POLITICS Brexit. Photo credit should read: @DominicRaab/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder. PA Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Rehman Chrishti Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party Rehman Chrishti tendered his resignation letter this afternoon PA Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Anne-Marie Trevelyan Parliamentary private secretary in the Department of Education Anne-Marie Trevelyan resigned stating that she cannot support the deal Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Handout image taken from the Twitter feed of @annietrev of the resignation letter addressed to Prime Minister Theresa May from Anne-Marie Trevelyan, a parliamentary private secretary in the Department for Education. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Thursday November 15, 2018. Ms Trevelyan has resigned saying she cannot support the Brexit deal after negotiations âbuilt on the UK trying to appease the EUâ. See PA story POLITICS Brexit. Photo credit should read: @annietrev/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder. PA Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Sam Gyimah Universities minister Sam Gyimah resigned on November 30, claiming the government's decision to pull out of the EU's Galileo satellite navigation system as a deciding factor PA Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Shailesh Vara Shailesh Vara who has quit as Minister of State for Northern Ireland, saying he cannot support Theresa May's Brexit agreement, which he said "leaves the UK in a halfway house with no time limit on when we will finally be a sovereign nation" PA Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Suella Braverman Brexit minister Suella Braverman has resigned, stating “It is not what the British people, or my constituents, voted for in 2016.” Cabinet ministers resign over Brexit deal Ranil Jayawardena Parliamentary private secretary to the ministry of justice Ranil Jayawardena resigned as he could not back the deal "in good conscience"

Supportive readers of Friday’s front page could, of course, point out that for all the difference in who gets called a saboteur these days, there has been no shifting of support for Theresa May and her efforts to achieve Brexit, and no change in the paper’s opposition to the no-deal option.

But that didn’t stop some in the old-guard readership taking to Twitter to complain that the paper was “Basically turning into The Guardian" – even though they probably can’t expect to see Polly Toynbee’s column appearing in the Mail any time soon.

So what of the foretold commercial suicide? A senior executive, who declined to be named, spoke of the possibility that there may even be a “Dacre detox dividend”, adding that the idea of the old editor having had a “unique and magical connection with Middle England” has been exposed already.

One news media specialist, who asked not to be named, said: “There has certainly not been a catastrophic collapse in circulation so far following Dacre’s departure as Mail editor and an apparent softening of the paper’s Brexit stance under Greig.”

The latest ABCs show its circulation at 1.23m copies a day in October, which is down from August (1.27m) and September (1.25m), but this is the shrinking print market after all, and the Mail is quick to point out that its market share is up.

The company’s press release states that the Saturday edition is in particularly rude health, out-selling even The Sun by more than 234,000 copies, and that the paper had “increased its share of Monday to Friday sales to a record 24.1 per cent”.

In the endless debate as to whether the news media reflect the views of their readers or lead their political opinions, it may be that the people of Middle England aren’t all furious Brexit die-hards after all. Time will tell, and the influence of the mighty Mail, and its new tone, should perhaps not be underestimated.