Grocer and banker head ITV race

TESCO chairman John Gardiner and former Bank of Scotland chief executive Sir Peter Burt are believed to be on a shortlist of three for the job of ITV chairman.

The pair, along with the other applicant, will be interviewed by the full ITV board in the next few days and an appointment is likely soon after.

Both men are hugely experienced leaders of FTSE 100 companies - vital for Sir Brian Pitman and Sir George Russell, the ITV nonexecutives leading the search. Experience of TV is not thought to be an absolute requirement.

A shareholder revolt prevented Carlton boss Michael Green from becoming chairman when his company merged with Granada last year to create ITV after concerns about his lack of independence.

Burt, 59, has spent almost all his career in banking, most of it with BoS, which he joined in 1975.

He was chief executive when he led the £28 billion merger with Halifax in 2001 and remained on the board of the merged group as deputy chairman of HBoS.

During Burt's reign at BoS, the bank ran into trouble over a proposed tie-up with US evangelist Pat Robertson. BoS hoped to sell savings and loans products to viewers of his television show.

But when Robertson described Scotland as a 'dark land' where 'you can't believe how strong the homosexuals are', any chance of a deal fell through amid outrage north of the border.

Gardiner, 67, who will retire as non-executive chairman of Tesco next month, knows Charles Allen well. The ITV chief executive is also a director of Tesco.