Nick Clegg Apology Sparks Spoof Remix

A reworked version of Nick Clegg apologising for breaking his party's pre-election promise not to raise student tuition fees has become an internet hit.

Nick Clegg Says Sorry (The Autotune Remix) was published on The Poke and gives an alternative version of the apology the Liberal Democrat leader made on Wednesday evening.

The new video, set to music, proved so popular, the makers of the film of Clegg saying sorry set to music, have asked him if they could release it on iTunes.

The Lib Dem leader agreed to its release via Twitter, provided all money raised from the single went to Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust.

Nick_Clegg tweeted: "@ThePoke Permission granted, but all proceeds to @SheffChildrens please."

The apology came ahead of this year's Lib Dem party conference, which begins at the weekend, and as Mr Clegg's satisfaction ratings among supporters plunged.

In it, Mr Clegg said he was sorry that the Lib Dems ever opposed the increase as they had not calculated the cost of the policy properly - not for the increase in tuition fees itself.

But afterwards, Business Secretary Vince Cable revealed that senior Lib Dems were sceptical about the party's pledge to oppose any rise in university tuition fees ahead of the last general election.

Mr Cable admitted that Danny Alexander, now Chief Secretary to the Treasury, warned colleagues the policy was unaffordable should the party find itself in government, but despite this senior MPs decided to press ahead with the idea aimed at wooing students.

The National Union of Students (NUS) said the Deputy Prime Minister "should be apologising to voters for breaking his pledge, not for making it in the first place".

NUS President Liam Burns said: "It's up to Nick Clegg now to reach out and apologise to those he betrayed by breaking his fees pledge and to make amends by changing his policies."

But Lib Dem MP Jo Swinson said the party's mistake had been to make a pledge they could only keep if governing alone.

She told Sky News: "It was made with the best of intentions, it was made with all of us as MPs who had the experience of opposition, and it was a pledge we would have been able to keep had we either been in opposition or indeed had there been a Liberal Democrat majority government."

:: Another musical version of Mr Clegg's apology has been released by Timbaland featuring OneRepublic.