Geordie Greig, editor of the society magazine Tatler, is being lined up for the same role at the London Evening Standard if, as expected, Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev buys the paper. He is understood to be the top candidate to edit the paper, owned by Daily Mail & General Trust, or take an editor-in-chief role, but he has not signed a contract. Greig, 48, who is already well known to Lebedev, has edited Conde Nast's Tatler for nearly a decade. An Old Etonian and Oxford graduate, he has worked at the Daily Mail, Today and Sunday Times in roles including war reporter, crime reporter, fashion writer, New York correspondent and literary editor. He started his journalism career at the Kentish Mercury, based in Deptford. Lebedev's son, Evgeny, who lives in London, was due to see DMGT's lawyers yesterday for a meeting at which it was understood the final terms of a deal to buy a 76% stake in the Standard would be thrashed out.