Old king got up on pick-up truck to make careful speech (7)

I believe the answer is:

elocute

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'make careful speech' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'old king got up on pick-up truck' is the wordplay.
'old king' becomes 'cole' (nursery rhyme character Old King Cole).
'got up' is a reversal indicator.
'on' says to put letters next to each other.
'pick-up truck' becomes 'ute' (Australian abbreviation for utility vehicle).
'cole' written backwards gives 'eloc'.
'eloc'+'ute'='ELOCUTE'

'to' acts as a link.

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I've seen this clue in The Times.

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