The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word CAMERON
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
C
A
M
E
R
O
N
More clues leading to the result CAMERON
- Instigator of Brexit vote: ‘Country will lose nothing’
- Country lacking nothing, cause of Brexit?
- E. Macron turned out to be a political failure
- C, half-cut Bush, for example, gatecrashing his party?
- Director of romance at sea?
- Came before Queen and vacated occupation?
- Government head involved in romance
- Party leader progressed, containing resistance
- . Former PM's disastrous romance
- British PM arrived with director Howard
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "a political failure" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case a political failure = cameron.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.