Simon Kelner, the Editor of The Independent, is expected to be promoted to become managing director of the newspaper, creating a vacancy that will be filled by Roger Alton, the former editor of The Observer.

The shake-up could be announced as soon as tomorrow, with Roger Alton saying he was “seriously flattered” to be nominated for the top editorial job at a newspaper that is the fourth ranked upmarket daily.

Mr Kelner’s decade at The Independent saw the newspaper become the first broadsheet to switch to tabloid and embrace a polemical “viewspaper” front page approach.

It is not clear if the change of regime will see the end of the "viewspaper" approach, although many expect Mr Alton to return to more conventional front pages.

“A paper’s got to have views,” he said tonight, but added that the daily title was about more than that, saying it had “great columnists, great writing and great women”.

Mr Kelner’s changes have helped secure the title’s position in the market, but its headline circulation at 252,000 remains small compared to rivals and the title makes a loss of around £5 million a year. Critics, led by Denis O’Brien, a rebel investor in the newspaper’s parent company, the Dublin-based Independent News & Media, have argued that the title should be sold.

However, Sir Anthony O’Reilly, the chief executive of Independent News & Media, insists The Independent represents a calling card for his international newspaper group, and that it contributes articles that are used in titles controlled by the company in Ireland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Roger Alton left the Observer after a decade in charge, after a falling out with Alan Rusbridger, the Editor-in-chief of the title. The Observer is to be closely integrated into The Guardian once the two newspapers move offices at the end of this year, reducing the independence of the Sunday title.

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