Admitting to having been at fault and relinquishing the seat? (8,9)

'admitting to having been' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'at fault and relinquishing the seat?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'at' could be 'in' (synonymous in some cases - eg at school, in school) and 'in' is found in the answer.
'and' could be 'n' (common abbreviation for 'and') and 'n' is found in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?