Lord Marland, the former Conservative minister, is in the frame to become the next chairman of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

Sky News has learnt that Lord Marland’s name is among several being circulated within the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy as the government seeks to identify a successor to Lord Tyrie, the former Tory MP.

Sources said the recruitment process for the CMA chairmanship remained “fluid” and that no front runner had so far emerged.

If Lord Marland does become the preferred choice for the job, it would further underline the approach adopted by Boris Johnson’s administration of anointing preferred candidates for key public body chairmanships.

Paul Dacre, the controversial former Daily Mail editor, has been widely reported to be the prime minister’s choice to chair Ofcom, the media regulator, while Richard Sharp, a former Goldman Sachs executive, recently became chairman of the BBC.

Lord Marland, who chairs the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council, was a minister in the business and energy departments during David Cameron’s premiership.

He founded the insurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson, and has invested in a series of companies, including the luxury goods group founded by Tamara Mellon and WH Ireland, the City stockbroker.

Whoever succeeds Jonathan Scott, who was named last autumn as the CMA’s interim chair following Lord Tyrie’s exit in June, will inherit a bulging in-tray.

The CMA chief executive, Andrea Coscelli, has signalled a determination to take on big tech companies such as Facebook and Apple, while the regulator is also facing scrutiny over a number of contentious merger decisions.

BEIS and Lord Marland declined to comment.

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