LONDON (AFP) -- British Finance Minister Gordon Brown, considered the likely successor to Prime Minister Tony Blair, said he would continue reforms and keep Labour at the "centre" in an interview published Monday in the Daily Mirror.

"The reforms will intensify. But where we have done things wrong, we have got to get them right for the future," said the chancellor of the exchequer who is regarded as being to the left of Blair.

Brown refused to give a date for the handover: Blair has said he would not take on a fourth mandate as premier, and speculation has been rife as to when he would step down. "These are questions that can only be dealt with when Tony makes his decision," Brown declared.

"I am ready and I have always been as Chancellor to take the long-term decisions that matter for this country."

Former minister David Blunkett, who is close to Blair, said recently that an agreement had been reached between the two men and Blair might hand over to Brown in "a year or two." Neither Blair nor Brown confirmed this. Brown said the UK-U.S. relationship would "continue to be central to British foreign policy."

The Euro-skeptic finance minister said, "clearly we took the right decision on the euro," referring to Britain's decision not to join the single European currency in 2002 despite Blair's desire to do so.

The Mirror said the interview with Brown, who is rarely drawn on such varied topics, would be seen as a sign that he was already preparing to succeed Blair as leader of the Labour Party and prime minister.