Might Murdoch look in the Mirror?

The surprise yesterday was that the former showbusiness columnist Dominic Mohan was not installed as Rebekah Wade's successor. He and and his rivals must wait until perhaps September for the puff of red smoke from Rupert's Wapping chimney.

Forty-year-old Mohan, The Sun's deputy editor since November 2007, has had his hands on the train set a lot this year while his boss brushed up on her business skills and got married. He joined the paper in 1995, ran the Bizarre pages, was instrumental in the 2005 Live 8 concerts and won a Sony Gold Award as a DJ.

But several suits at News International worry he's "lightweight". Kremlinologists read the silence as a signal that Mohan may have to bide his time. One time-honoured option is for him to serve an apprenticeship editing the News of the World.

So, other candidates for The Sun? The editor of the Screws, Colin Myler, has been around the block but is scarred after losing a privacy case over the Max Mosley spanking story.

Richard Wallace, who this week celebrated five years editing the Daily Mirror, is worth a bet. (Paddy Power has opened a book.) He is highly regarded and thought to be weary of the savage cost cutting at the title, which costs over twice the price of The Sun and Daily Star. Wallace has in recent weeks been told he must push through further voluntary redundancies.

The Tories' communications director (and former Screws editor) Andy Coulson will not return. There would be talented candidates to replace him – Boris Johnson's media adviser Guto Harri is not uninterested in joining David Cameron in No 10 – but the money is categorically on Coulson making the transition to Downing Street.

Rounding up the field, there's the leathery Australian Col Allan, at Murdoch's New York Post.

Wade will help choose the next editor of Britain's biggest-selling daily. She describes Mohan as "one of the most talented journalists in Fleet Street". His time will come.