Nick Clegg, the UK’s deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Democrats, has inadvertently found himself at the centre of one of the year’s silliest musical memes. 

Prior to the 2010 general election, the Lib Dems made a flagship pledge not to raise tuition fees for university students under any circumstances – and subsequently bumped up fees to £9000 per annum as part of the UK’s coalition government with the Conservatives. By way of reparation, Clegg released a video on Wednesday offering a contrite apology for the volte-face. Cue all manner of online mischief.

The wags over at satirical website The Poke were the first to ‘Autotune’ Clegg’s apology; in less than 48 hours, their effort has gone viral in a big way, racking up in excess of 350,000 views and making the news bulletin of BBC Radio 4’s PM. It’s hardly the most original jape in the world – in fact, it’s firmly in the bottom quartile – but it gets brownie points for being a) well-executed and b) admirably prompt.

As The Stool Pigeon note, the track is now set to get an official release. ‘Nick Clegg Says Sorry (The Autotune Remix)’ will see release later this year on iTunes. As the Twitter exchange below demonstrates, Clegg has given his blessing to the official release, on the proviso that all profits go to the Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust. The hospital is within Clegg’s Sheffield Hallam constituency, and Clegg’s spouse Miriam Gonzalez Durantez is a patron.

The clip – which, let’s face it, you’ve already seen too many times – is below.