US President George W Bush and his election rival John Kerry are cousins, if a genealogist is to be believed.

Their forefathers hail from Wickford, Essex, and the link dates back to the 1600s, The Sun tabloid quoted American genealogist Gary Boyd Roberts as saying.

Their common ancestor, Edmund Reade, was a minor member of the town's gentry, the report said.

He died in 1623 and his two daughters sailed to America, marrying into different powerful families who eventually produced the two candidates.

The two are ninth cousins twice removed, according to Roberts.

Sarah Dickie of Essex Records Office has also found evidence of the Reades. "The facts do certainly look to add up," the paper quoted her as saying.