Mrs Hague will not giving any interviews

Mr Macrory - former political editor the Star - will assist Mrs Hague with the anticipated media attention expected during the campaign even though reports have said she will not be giving interviews.

Conservative aides believe that Cardiff-born Mrs Hague could be a key asset for the party.

Conservative Central Office confirmed the appointment but declined to comment on the details.

Party leader William Hague has faced internal pre-election divisions over the handling of John Townend's "mongrel nation" race comments.

She will also be accompanied during the campaign by Margaret Thatcher's former aide, Shana Hole, 44.

Ms Hole will be attached to the Hagues when the couple travel together.

Mrs Hague, 32, has a contrasting public profile to that of Cherie Blair, the prime minister's wife.

There is a difficulty that she could be seen as interfering

Max Clifford, publicist

Since their marriage in 1997, she has not entered into any political debates and keeps a low-key profile working for a London-based recruitment company.

Even so she is regarded at Conservative Central Office as an asset to the party and is there is speculation that she is set to feature against Mrs Blair in media-style "fashion wars".

However, celebrity publicist Max Clifford said one danger of giving Mrs Hague a higher public profile would be to overshadow her husband.

'Fly-on-the-wall'

"There is a difficulty that she could be seen as interfering."

It has long been recognised that Oxbridge-educated Ffion Hague - who met her husband in 1995 when he was Secretary of State for Wales and she was his private secretary - plays an important role in her husband's life.

In 1997, Mr Hague consulted his then fiancée on whether or not he should become the Conservative party leader.

Two years ago, Mrs Hague became one of the youngest ever women to be appointed to the board of the British Council.

The couple's private and public lives were the focus of a Channel Four "fly-on-the-wall" documentary last year.