President Bush left Teesside Airport at 4.05pm at the end of his four-day visit to Britain.

The American President and his wife boarded Airforce One just moments after arriving back at Teesside International Airport from a four-hour visit to Prime Minister Tony Blair's Sedgefield constituency.

Mr Bush left the presidential helicopter Marine One to walk the short distance across the tarmac to the steps of the presidential jet Airforce One.

He was met by the guard of honour of police officers who had been on duty at the airport throughout the day, and also a number of US Air Force servicemen, who saluted their president as he boarded his jet for the trip home.

Within minutes of Airforce One clearing the tarmac of Teesside Airport, an identical Boeing 747, Airforce Two, was beginning its departure, with a number of aides and members of the press who had made the trip to England with their president.