Nick Clegg spoof 'I'm sorry' video song to be released as single
5:22pm Thursday 20th September 2012 in News
A video lampooning Nick Clegg’s apology about his party's tuition fees U-turn is to be released as a charity single on iTunes.
The deputy prime minister has given his permission for the spoof film – in which he repeatedly sings sorry - to be issued by satirical website www.thepoke.co.uk after it received thousands of views in a matter of hours on You Tube.
He has requested all profits be given to the Children's Hospital Charity in Sheffield, where he is an MP.
Mr Clegg's wife Miriam is a patron of the hospital.
A source close to Mr Clegg said the video was another way of "getting the message out".
"Nick saw it and he thought that it was very funny. But he also thinks it is an - admittedly unusual - way of getting the message out to more people," the source said.
"That was the idea of doing (the apology) in the first place.
"To boot, it is going to make money for the charity."
The official video, in which Mr Clegg apologises for the Lib Dems breaking their pre-election pledge not to raise tuition fees, is to be officially broadcast on Monday - the third day of the party's autumn conference.
In the two-and-a-half minute film he admitted that many voters were "angry and disappointed" at the coalition's subsequent move to treble the maximum annual fee to £9,000.
"To those people, I say this: we made a promise before the election that we would vote against any rise in fees under any circumstances," he said.
"But that was a mistake. It was a pledge made with the best of intentions - but we shouldn't have made a promise we weren't absolutely sure we could deliver."
Business Secretary Mr Cable endorsed the apology and insisted he also took responsibility for the "collective" decision.
The original video:
The spoof video:
