Background
The United Kingdom sent its fifty-second entry to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2009. It automatically qualified to the final as one of the "Big Four" countries that pays the most money to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) for the organisation of the event.
The United Kingdom's result history has varied. The country is one of the most successful at the contest, having won on five occasions (in 1967, 1969, 1976, 1981 and 1997), however, it has only made the Top 10 on two occasions since the turn of the millennium, as well as coming last three times during that period (in 2003, 2008 and 2010). The leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron, had called for the UK to withdraw from the 2009 contest due to the 2008 South Ossetia war, but to no avail.
The British public broadcaster, the BBC broadcasts the event each year and organises the selection process for the entry. In all cases, a national final has selected the British Eurovision entry, varying between both a selection of performer and song, or just a song selection with an internal selection for the artist being held. For most years, the public had been able to vote for the winner, using in the past postcard voting, where the viewers sent postcards with their vote to the BBC, but more recently televoting.
Read more about this topic: United Kingdom In The Eurovision Song Contest 2009
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