Tony Blair has urged his fellow European leaders to come to terms with President Bush's election victory.

In an interview with the Times newspaper on Friday, the prime minister suggested that some leaders were in a "state of denial" about the outcome.

But he suggested that being faced with the prospect another four years of the Bush administration would prompt a more "receptive mood".

"America has spoken. The rest of the world should listen," Blair told the paper.

"The fact is that President Bush is there for four years. He is there because the American people have chosen him."

Blair revealed that went to bed at 10.30pm thinking that John Kerry had won, on the basis of the early exit polls, and woke up at 5.30am to find that President Bush had been re-elected.