Wogan wins backing over Eurovision attack

Veteran Eurovision Song Contest commentator Terry Wogan won support from prominent figures in showbusiness today for his criticisms of the competition.

Wogan cast doubt last night on whether he would be involved in covering the event again, after doing so since the 1970s.

He said it was “no longer a music contest” and that prospects for Western European participants were “poor”.

Today showbusiness legend Bruce Forsyth said: “I agree with him. It’s not a song contest any more, it’s political. It’s all so biased, it’s developed into a farce. I’ve stopped watching it, the last couple of years.”

Forsyth said he had always admired Wogan – “His radio show has been so successful.”

And asked about the future of the show androgen's role in it, he quipped: “As long as they don’t ask me to do it, I don’t care!”

Pop svengali Simon Cowell said: “If people enjoy it as entertainment, that’s great, but it’s all a bit empty and meaningless as a competition.”

Public relations guru Max Clifford commented: “Terry Wogan is spot on. It’s all about politics and block voting and nothing to do with the merits of a song.

“It’s like having a World Cup where the results are worked out in political terms and it’s got nothing to do with who scores the most goals.”

Wogan spoke out near the end of his commentary after Britain’s entry Andy Abraham had a disappointing night in the 53rd contest.

The former binman finished joint last of the 25 finalists.

Heart throb Dima Bilan of Russia romped to victory with a massive 272 points with a big ballad, produced by US r&b star Timbaland, called Believe.

Bilan was returning for a second time after he narrowly lost out to shock Finnish rockers Lordi in 2006.

Last night’s contest was held in the Serbian capital Belgrade and was due to be watched by more than 100 million television viewers across Europe.

Wogan said 43-year-old Abraham, who found fame on TV talent show the X Factor, deserved more votes from other countries than he received.

He said: “It’s a disappointment, considering that Andy Abraham gave, I think, the performance of his life with a song that certainly deserved more marks than it got.”

Referring to certain other songs in the competition, he added: “You have to say that this is no longer a music contest.”

He said: “I have to decide whether I want to do this again. Western European participants have to decide whether they want to take part from here on in, because their prospects are poor.”

He did not want to take anything away from Russia, though, which had won comfortably.

Abraham co-wrote a soulful song called Even If but bookmakers had feared for its fate, giving it long odds of 66-1 before the start.

Wogan said, though: “What a blinding performance he gave for the UK.”

However he received only 14 points.

The BBC had no comment today.