The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 plus 2 plus 5 letter word BALANCE OF POWER
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
B
A
L
A
N
C
E
O
F
P
O
W
E
R
More clues leading to the result BALANCE OF POWER
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Nicola and Nick both hoped to hold this" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case nicola and nick both hoped to hold this = balance of power.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.