As soon as one race for the White House ends, another begins – the sprint among British politicians to try to associate themselves with the winner. "Warm congratulations to my friend @BarackObama. Look forward to continuing to work together," tweeted David Cameron – or more likely the under-strapper manning the prime minister's account since the message was sent at 6.07am. Ed Miliband's team were caught snoozing under their duvets. It was not until 8.41am that a rival tweet went out in the name of the Labour leader: "Congratulations to @BarackObama – great victory based on building fairer economy and optimism about what politics can achieve."

Whether or not he can use his historic second term to heal America, Barack Obama did succeed in uniting David Cameron and Ed Miliband – and Nick Clegg for that matter too. All three wanted to see him returned to the Oval office and all three think his victory is encouraging for their own fortunes.