Standard's deputy moves to Mail Online

Former Chancellor George Osborne became editor of the Standard earlier this month

There's been a lot of "fair play, George Osborne" on Twitter in recent days, commending him for breaking a series of agenda-setting political stories.

There was the line about how not a single member of the cabinet supports the prime minister's immigration cap, followed by the scoop about her swivel on social care.

Given his 20 years in politics, including six as chancellor, by my calculation Mr Osborne has roughly 17,000 further scoops in his head, with which he will no doubt be entertaining readers of the Standard in weeks to come.

He has had a very lively news agenda in his first weeks as an editor, with not just the election and now the horror in Manchester, a city he championed, with a constituency nearby, but also Donald Trump's novel experiments in modern public administration.

The tougher test will come when, inevitably, the news agenda is quieter - perhaps in August, for instance.

Alas for him, his news supremo, deputy editor Ian Walker (one of two deputies on the paper, together with Charlotte Ross, who overseas Features and ES Magazine), is leaving.

I can reveal that Walker is heading to Mail Online, where he has been appointed executive editor by Martin Clarke, Mail Online's editor.

Walker, who worked with Clarke years ago, will focus on the news operation. After nearly 17 years at the Standard, he is leaving despite, and not because of, Mr Osborne's sprightly entry into journalism. He will start the new role in September.

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Walker's departure doesn't strictly create a vacancy at the Standard, where an internal solution is likely to be found.

At Mail Online, Walker will spend less time thinking about London, but more time responding to howls of outrage on social media.

Search for "Daily Mail" on Twitter and you'll see a range of stories in the aftermath of the Manchester terror attack that have met with fury.

Of course, it's in the nature of social media that we hear more from those who are angry about a particular story than those who agree with it.

And these controversies tend to have one effect above all, which is to increase web traffic for the world's most widely read English-language website.

Walker is entering a new world and his appointment is a signal that Mail Online is serious about breaking hard news stories, as well as generating traffic through its notorious sidebar of shame.