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Nick Clegg stars as Tom Hanks in Carly Rae Jepson parody music video for party political broadcast

Everyone is going crazy over a recording of Nick Clegg re-enacting a Carly Rae Jepson music video in Gravesend, only no one has seen it... yet.

The former deputy Prime Minister strutted through Windmill Street last year for the party-political broadcast in which he starred as Tom Hanks but the video itself has been kept under wraps ever since.

Throwing high-fives to onlookers and posing for selfies, Clegg re-created every scene of the Canadian pop-stars I Really Like You video starring the Hollywood actor in an attempt to go viral.

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The Deputy Prime Minister took a selfie in Community Square.
The Deputy Prime Minister took a selfie in Community Square.

Despite spending £7,800 on the video manufactured by Create Productions, the parody political broadcast was never made publically available and Clegg swore his staff to secrecy.

He told KentOnline at the time: “It’s a bit of fun. I want to have fun in this general election campaign. I don’t want it to be too po-faced and serious.”

When asked why he chose to shoot the video in Gravesend, the then-Liberal Democrat Leader said: “It was just a really great place to do this and hopefully not cause too much disruption.”

Nick Clegg in Gravesend town centre during filming.
Nick Clegg in Gravesend town centre during filming.

The aim of the video was to create a fun and enticing side to the party in the run up to the general election last year. Clegg even left the House of Commons early on one occasion to film - missing Danny Alexander’s unveiling of the party’s alternative pre-election budget.

Its secret status remains a mystery but Clegg told friends after a day of filming that he got into his car, and thought to himself, "why the f*** did I do that?"

A senior Lib Dem source has said: “On reflection it definitely would have gone viral, but probably not in the way we would have intended.

Clegg was forced to resign following the May 2015 General Election.
Clegg was forced to resign following the May 2015 General Election.

“Although, I doubt it could have made the election result any worse.”

Following the May 2015 election, Clegg was forced to resign as leader.

There are now calls to see the video but Phil Reilly, Clegg’s advisor, took to Twitter this morning to say: “Sorry guys. You can’t see the video.”

A spokesman for the Liberal Democrat party said: "Yes we did make it, but no you can’t see it!

"We have also filmed a very successful party political broadcast in Gravesend (that was released). We really like Gravesend and have always found people very friendly when we have used it for filming."

A petition has now been set up with more than 200 supporters urging Nick Clegg to release the video.

https://www.change.org/p/nick-clegg-mp-nick-clegg-to-release-his-election-music-video?recruiter=30922050&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_for_starters_page&utm_term=des-lg-google-no_msg&recuruit_context=fb_share_mention_variant&fb_ref=Default

VIDEO: Nick Clegg in Gravesend to film his parody

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