By BBC News Online's political correspondent Nick Assinder

After months of anticipation, William Hague is finally getting onto the back of a lorry to take his "keep the pound" crusade to the country.

He will hit the road in his newly-acquired Tory truck from which he will preach his anti-euro message to ordinary voters.

No area of Britain will be safe from the Hague battle wagon as he seeks to convince voters that only the Tories can be relied upon to save sterling.

The stunt is a direct echo of former prime minister John Major's use of a soap box during the 1992 election campaign when he believed he could bring a bit of old-fashioned campaigning back into elections.

Like Mr Major, Mr Hague believes he is ill-served by the media and will fare much better when in direct contact with the punters.

Whether innocent passers-by want to be berated by a politician from the back of a lorry while they are trying to do a bit of shopping is a different matter.

And, of course, the reality is likely to be very different from the speculation that has surrounded this particular stunt.

Despite popular myth, Mr Hague will not be driving the lorry himself - he hasn't got an HGV licence for one thing - but will be chauffeur driven to each location to meet up with the vehicle.

Home grown

It is not a flatbed, as had been suggested, but a box lorry. So he will be speaking to the crowds from a hydraulic platform that can be raised or lowered - presumably depending on how friendly the local populace is.

And the Tories are flatly denying they had to delay the tour until they could find a British lorry. What they have come up with - a 7.5 tonne Leyland Daf truck - is about as close as they could get.

Ironically, while it is as home grown as is possible nowadays, the very name of the lorry only serves to recall the days of state-owned British Leyland, which was eventually merged with the Dutch state-owned Daf truck manufacturer.

It is also unlikely the opposition leader will be given a mauling on his first walk on the wild side as it will take him only to the City of London and then St Albans - the home of former Tory party chairman Peter Lilley.

Later Mr Hague will venture further abroad, to places including Birmingham, Leeds and Brecon.

The tour will provide a foretaste of the next general election campaign, which Mr Hague wants to see turned into a referendum on Britain's entry into the single currency.

This is by far the biggest single issue to separate the two parties and - following the Tory successes in last year's euro elections- Mr Hague is convinced his policy chimes with the popular mood.

The tour is also aimed at casting Mr Hague in a new light with voters, who have so far resisted his "man of the people" charms.

"We think that this will reinforce the way that William is seen as a man who is not afraid of an argument and a man who's not afraid of plain speaking," said one.

They are all keeping their fingers crossed there are no out-of-work actresses or models wielding chocolate eclairs in the audience.