London: British Prime Minister Tony Blair has told ministers that he plans to leave office next summer, according to news reports on Sunday.
Blair's Downing Street office refused to comment on the reports.
Blair has said he plans to serve a full third term, but this week reassured lawmakers from his governing Labour Party that he would step aside in time for his successor to settle into office before the next general election, expected in 2009.
The Independent newspaper said it had questioned a Cabinet minister about whether he had been told by Blair that he would go next summer.
''I'm not going to tell you exactly what Tony said but I wouldn't disagree with that,'' it quoted the unidentified minister as saying.
The newspaper quoted another unidentified minister as saying that ''almost half the Cabinet'' has now been given private assurances about a departure date by Blair.
Blair is refusing to confirm the arrangement in public because he fears the main opposition Conservative Party will start a countdown, the newspaper said.
The British media have been speculating for weeks about the prime minister's departure date. His battle to shift the spotlight away from his political intentions intensified after his Labour Party placed third in local elections earlier this month.
The Sunday Times said Treasury chief Gordon Brown, Blair's likely successor, had turned down Blair's offer to hand over power to him in the fall of 2007.
Quoting unidentified Downing Street sources, the newspaper said Blair had more than once offered Brown a ''zone of time'' for his departure in the second half of next year.
Brown refused because Blair is still refusing to give him a specific date, believing it would play into the hands of political opponents, the newspaper quoted the sources as saying.
The Mail on Sunday said senior government sources had told it that Blair told Brown in February that he would resign in July 2007.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said Blair had nothing to add to his previous public statements.
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