It started with the Iraq War, thank to Tony Blair. Then after glasnost, all the separate nations that were part of the USSR all voted for Russia, or their neighbours. This meant that none of Western Europe got a look in. Eurovision have tried changing the rules many times to stop it, but ‘‘twas always so. Cliff lost out to Spain when Germany gave them more votes. Greece gives votes to Cyprus etc.
I watched Eurovision in the 90’s in a Spanish bar. It had a mix of diners. Spanish, French, English, Dutch, Norwegians and Swedes. As the voting started, we said who would vote for whom. We all got it right too! Fantastic evening!