A stand of a strange new sort is brought in (7)
I believe the answer is:
rostrum
'a stand' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'strange new sort is brought in' is the wordplay.
'strange' becomes 'rum' (similar in meaning).
'new' is an anagram indicator.
'is brought in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'sort' is an anagram of 'ostr'.
'rum' placed around 'ostr' is 'ROSTRUM'.
'of a' is the link.
(Other definitions for rostrum that I've seen before include "Platform for public speaking" , "beak" , "Podium" , "Rum rots (anag)" , "stage" .)