A leader in the forefront (5)

I believe the answer is:

ahead

'in the forefront' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'a leader' is the wordplay.
'leader' becomes 'head' (head is a kind of leader).
'a'+'head'='AHEAD'

(Other definitions for ahead that I've seen before include "In the lead, in advance" , "In the vanguard" , "In the future" , "at pole" , "advanced" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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