Named (but not shamed): new 'Sun' editor

First female editor is expected to axe the Page 3 pictures

Rebekah Wade was appointed the first female editor of The Sun yesterday. With it, Britain's biggest selling daily paper – and its most infamous – could undergo a dramatic change: a transformation that could affect both British politics and the country's sexual politics.

If Ms Wade is true to her principles, then Page 3, the daily pose by a topless model that has been an institution for 30 years, will be axed. And if Ms Wade is true to her New Labour friends and confidants, then The Sun may change its stance on the euro and become the first Murdoch paper to come out in its favour.

The prospect of such a massive shift in ideology and the possible effect on its 3.4 million readers puts into the shade the more obvious resonances of Ms Wade's appointment: she is the only woman editing a daily paper and has a spouse far more famous than she is – the actor Ross Kemp, who formerly played thuggish Grant in EastEnders.

Ms Wade, 34, was once the deputy of the man she now replaces, David Yelland, who resigned yesterday with the promise of a continuing role in the Murdoch empire. Ms Wade is a protégée of the News International executive chairman Les Hinton, who promoted her to be editor of the News of the World in May 2000.

The announcement that she would be returning to replace her former boss was made at the News International (NI) headquarters in Wapping, east London, but the plot may have been hatched in the Caribbean on a yacht belonging to Lachlan Murdoch, son of the NI chairman, Rupert Murdoch. Ms Wade and Mr Kemp holidayed with Lachlan Murdoch over the New Year period.

Glamorous and striking with long red hair and now in a position that no woman has held before, Ms Wade would seem a natural for high-profile, appearances on BBC's Question Time and numerous other public platforms. None of that, however, is likely to happen.

Ms Wade keeps a low profile; partly, colleagues say, because she fears "what's Ross Kemp like" questions. Partly, says a friend, she is afraid that outside journalists will be as cavalier with her as NoW reporters can be with their victims. And, partly, she believes her paper should speak for her.

She has friends in high places, including the Prince of Wales's former aide Mark Bolland and his partner, Guy Black, the director of the Press Complaints Commission. She has also developed a friendship with Cherie Blair, has been a guest at Chequers, and is unquestionably closer to Labour than any of her predecessors in the editor's chair at The Sun.

The implications for The Sun's hostile stance on the euro are interesting, though whether Ms Wade will have the stomach to confront the implacably opposed Rupert Murdoch on this issue is doubtful.

Page 3 is another matter. When she was deputy editor of The Sun, Ms Wade repeatedly confronted Mr Yelland over Page 3, arguing that it was sexist, dated and alienating a potential young female readership. She will be scrutinised now to see if she sticks to that belief.

Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, said: "Rebekah has proven her talent as a great campaigning editor. She has produced a popular, powerful, and often controversial News of the World. I am confident she will triumph again at The Sun."

Ms Wade, in a typically brief statement, just said: "It's the best job in newspapers and I can't wait to get started."

She has long had the ambition to edit The Sun; and she used her sojurn at the News of the World to impress Rupert Murdoch with her editing skills. But the results were mixed and revealed an editor as ready to compromise with high-profile PRs as to campaign fearlessly.

Her policy of "naming and shaming" paedophiles and the campaign for "Sarah's Law", which followed the abduction and murder of Sarah Payne, was roundly criticised by civil liberty campaigners and by police, and inevitably led to innocent people being hounded, – one of them not a paedophile but a paediatrician.

Among her paper's scoops, the story of Have I Got News For You presenter Angus Deayton's "drug-fuelled sex romps" was presented as a quasi-tribute to his manliness after a deal with Deayton's PR representative Matthew Freud.

As editor of the News of the World, she disappointed those who hoped she might be Fleet Street's equality champion. Though a leading figure in the pressure group Women in Journalism, she has run lurid "girlie" pictures with little reason. One example of such gratuitous use was old pictures of the model Jordan, nude on page 3 of the News of the World. Ms Wade's deputy there, Andy Coulson, is favourite to succeed her.

Piers Morgan, editor of the Daily Mirror, was delighted yesterday to have seen off Mr Yelland, with whom he had had a bitter rivalry.

Although The Sun's circulation held up better than the Mirror's in their recent price war, Mr Morgan was jubilant and fired off a parting jibe at Mr Yelland, who is going to business school in the US, saying: "I wish David every success with his school work."

Mr Morgan said: "Rebekah also happens to be a good friend of mine and a very good journalist who I have huge respect for. So I would like us to restrict our competitive instincts to nailing her through great papers and not personal abuse."

Mr Yelland said: "It has been an exhilarating five years but personally and professionally I know this is the right time for a change. I had discussions with management late last year and we agreed this was the best time to make the move. I'm 40 this year – it's time for me to move on to the next stage in my career.''

Mr Murdoch, who is sponsoring Mr Yelland's studies, said: "David has had five fabulously successful years in the chair at The Sun. He bows out with an increasing circulation and with even greater distance between The Sun and its competition. David's great talent brought a depth and quality to The Sun that has placed it among the country's most respected voices ... I look forward to working with him in a senior role for years to come."

Mr Yelland has had his admirers, though few would agree with Mr Murdoch's belief that The Sun was now "among the country's most respected voices". The bigger question now, though, is whether Ms Wade will have the courage to take on her proprietor on politics, both fiscal and sexual.