LEADING government figures yesterday rejected the suggestion that Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have reached an agreement on the handover of power.

This is despite increasing speculation that the prime ministerwill stand down soon after he completes 10 years in office next May.

Alistair Darling, a close Brown ally, yesterday echoed the robust denial issued by Downing Street in the wake of press reports that the prime minister's closest advisers were working to a timetable that would mean the prime minister handing over power to Mr Brown next summer.

Speaking on the BBC's Politics Show, Mr Darling, the transport secretary, said that there was no special deal.

"Now Gordon and Tony work closely together, there's hardly a day goes by when they're not working out what we need to do next to make sure that we make reforms that are absolutely necessary, " he added.

A Blair aide said that any speculation about the date of the prime minister's departure should be dismissed because he did not talk about it to close advisers, far less to the media.

According to a report in a Sunday newspaper, Lord Kinnock, the former Labour leader, has advised Mr Blair to fix a date to leave Downing Street.

The prime minister's critics would like to think Mr Brown would march the government in a different direction but the chancellor wants to dispel any suggestion that he would be any less keen on reform than his predecessor.

As David Cameron intensifies the battle for the centre ground, Mr Brown is paying a price for letting some of his supporters send out mixed messages. While senior Labour sources insist Mr Brown was as much an architect of New Labour as Mr Blair, disappointed Brownites have held out a promise that things might have been different had their man been in charge.