The Tory opposition leader at Waltham Forest Council has spoken of his enjoyable but slightly disappointing time at the Eurovision Song Contest while working in his day job as Bonnie Tyler's manager.


Ms Tyler, 63, came 19th out of 26 countries when she represented the UK with her song Believe in Me at the competition on Saturday.


Cllr Matt Davis, who has been her manager for the last seven years, spent nine days in host country Sweden working in preparation for the final.


He admitted to the Guardian that before the contest he thought it was unlikely she would win due to widespread "political voting" among countries, but said her team was still very proud.


He said: "She gave an excellent performance and on the night she got by far the best reaction from the crowd in the arena.


"I'm not going to pretend we're not disappointed by the outcome, we were hopeful for a top ten finish, but I have no doubt she put on one of the best performances."


Ms Tyler, who is best know for her 1983 hit Total Eclipse of the Heart, said after Saturday's show she found the experience "really enjoyable" and Cllr Davis said he agreed.


He said: "It was a lot of fun. I know it's a horrible cliché but it was a case of are you in it to win or is it the taking part? 


"The reaction that Bonnie got was astounding. She couldn't walk down the street without getting mobbed and everyone wanted to have their photo taken with her. She did interviews with broadcasters from 42 countries.


"And one man from the BBC showed me a video he'd filmed on his mobile of an entire train of people spontaneously singing Total Eclipse of the Heart on their way home from the arena."


An estimated 7.7 million people in the UK tuned in to watch Eurovision, which was won by Denmark's Emmelie de Forest.


Cllr Davis said he thought her song was good but that the contest was "far from objective".


He said: "there is political voting and many countries vote for their neighbours or ones that speak the same language as them.


"If you based it on the song and the performance on the night then Bonnie and a number of other entries could all have deservedly won it."