Nick Clegg today agreed to allow a remix of his tuition fees apology to be released as a charity single.
The Liberal Democrat leader’s gamble to admit he should never have promised not to increase fees shocked Westminster, and left some advisors wondering what the reaction would be days before the party’s annual conference.
But within hours the party political broadcast had been recut, using autotune to set the Deputy Prime Minister’s plea for forgiveness to music.
Today Mr Clegg responded to a request to release it as a single, when he tweeted: 'Permission granted.' All proceeds will go to Sheffield Children's Hospital.
Scroll down to watch the video remix
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg filmed his apology video at his home in Putney, West London
With the chorus ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry’, the remix by satirical website The Poke risked undermining what was supposed to be a serious attempt at addressing the single biggest threat to the Lib Dems’ electoral credibility.
But by agreeing to its release as a single, Lib Dem advisors hope it will show the Deputy PM has a sense of humour - and the message of contrition will reach a wider audience.
A source close to Mr Clegg said: '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.'
Mr Clegg’s advisors had been divided on the wisdom of making such an abject apology, fearing it would resurrect anger at the broken election pledge just as voters were beginning to take notice of other Lib Dem policies on schools and tax.
There were angry protests on the streets of Westminster in November 2010 as Lib Dem and Conservative MPs prepared to vote to increase tuition fees to up to £9,000-a-year.
Effigies of Mr Clegg were burnt in the street, and he revealed he had dog's mess put through his letter box.
There were angry protests in Westminster at the move to increase tuition fees to £9,000 a year
Mr Clegg made the decision to apologise for the first time while on holiday over the summer.
The two-and-a-half minute video clip is expected to form the basis of a Lib Dem party political broadcast on Monday night to coincide with the annual conference in Brighton.
In the original video, filmed at his home in Putney, West London, Mr Clegg said: ‘There's no easy way to say this: we made a pledge, we didn't stick to it - and for that I am sorry.’
But the remix has him repeating over and over again the refrain: ‘‘I am sorry. I am sorry. I am so, so sorry.’
It also includes the recut phrase: ‘The Liberal Democrats are sorry.’
The video appears to have used auto-tune technology to set his words to music.
As thousands of people watched the video, The Poke site tweeted: 'We'd love the @libdems to give us permission to release this as a single on iTunes. All profits to worthy education causes?'
Mr Clegg replied: 'Permission granted, but all proceeds to @SheffChildrens please.'
Mr Clegg's wife Miriam is a patron of the hospital.
Nick Clegg used Twitter to confirm the song could be released as a single
Senior Lib Dem ministers rallied to his defence today, insisting Mr Clegg was right to make the apology.
Pensions minister Steve Webb said it 'took guts'.
He added: 'What we found over the summer is that we’ve got lots of things we want to talk about: a fairer tax system, a green agenda and sometimes that is landing on deaf ears because people are saying ‘ah hang on – tuition fees’.'
Vince Cable, the Lib Dem Business Secretary ultimately in charge of the government’s university policy, admitted he had been ‘sceptical; about the pledge.
‘But we agreed collectively to do it and I take my share of the responsibility,’ he told BBC2’s Newsnight programme.
‘It was an unwise commitment to have made and we regret that and that was the basis of the apology.'
Right behind you: Vince Cable (right) said he supported Nick Clegg's apology, admitting he was 'sceptical' about the Lib Dems' tuition fees pledge
David Laws, a Clegg ally appointed education minister in the reshuffle, also rallied to Mr Clegg’s defence, saying the Lib Dem leader had tried to water the policy down in opposition.
‘He took on the party and told them what they didn't want to hear, which was the pledge of abolishing tuition fees overnight was not affordable, that we'd have to do it over two parliaments,' he told BBC Radio 4.
‘He now regrets, and I now regret and Vince Cable now regrets, that we didn't go further to point out how tough this would be and that we didn't make clearer in our manifesto the risk given the fact the other parties were committed to precisely the opposite policy.
‘Both of them wanted to increase fees and that's why it would have been very difficult in coalition to deliver this policy.’
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