WH Smith chief favourite to replace Mail's Crozier

Ms Swann, who joined WH Smith in 2003, is understood to be the preferred candidate on a shortlist of three put forward by headhunting firm Egon Zehnder, the Mail on Sunday said.

She has revived the fortunes of the retail chain after reducing its reliance on the highly competitive entertainment market, including CDs and DVDs, and focusing more on its core books, stationery and confectionery markets.

Ms Swann has reportedly been linked to several chief executive jobs, including as a replacement for Sir Stuart Rose at Marks & Spencer.

Her appointment at Royal Mail could be controversial if the Government is forced to pay her a "golden hello" in order to cover long-term incentive bonuses at WH Smith, where her earnings last year topped 1.4m.

Mr Crozier will join ITV later this month after seven years at the helm of Royal Mail, where he took the postal giant from losing more than 1m a day to making 1m a day.

However he was also embroiled in a series of industrial disputes with postal workers over modernisation which saw nationwide strikes and huge disruption to deliveries. He was dubbed Britain's highest paid public servant with a package estimated to be worth more than 3m in 2008.