"Nick Clegg Says I'm Sorry (The Autotune Remix)", also shortened to "I'm Sorry", is a 2012 song by satirical website The Poke. The song is a remixed version of a video of Nick Clegg (former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) apologising for voting in favour of raising tuition fees. The song reached number 143 in the UK Singles Chart.
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Background
In the 2010 general election, the Liberal Democrats stood on a platform of voting against any increase in university tuition fees and Clegg signed the National Union of Students' Vote for Students pledge against any increase. The result of the election meant that the Liberal Democrats were the third-largest party in the House of Commons and formed a coalition government with the Conservative Party. Following the Browne Review, there was a vote in Parliament to raise tuition fees to £9,000. It passed with a majority of 21; several Liberal Democrat MPs, including Clegg, voted in favour of it because of the principle of Cabinet collective responsibility.
History
On 17 September 2012, Clegg issued a video apologising for voting in favour of raising tuition fees. On Thursday 20 September, the video of Clegg's apology was remixed and set to Auto-Tune music. The chorus of the song consists of Clegg singing "I'm sorry". The video containing the song was published on YouTube by The Poke's official channel. The song became popular and The Poke announced plans to release the song as a single on iTunes and asked the Liberal Democrats for permission to do so. Clegg granted permission for the song to be released on the condition that the profits went to the Children's Hospital Charity in Sheffield. The single went on sale the day afterwards. Clegg was reported to have found the video personally amusing and remarked it was "very catchy", but (according to the Daily Mail) he "clearly suffered" when it was broadcast in front of him on The Andrew Marr Show on BBC1. Clegg's wife, Miriam, described the song as "genius" and "very good".
Charts
The song charted at number 143 in the UK Singles Chart. It was noted that the song would likely have charted higher had it been released earlier in the week instead of on the Friday when the charts were officially published on Sunday.