Alternatively, a politician's rhetorical skill (7)
I believe the answer is:
oratory
'rhetorical skill' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how one could define the other.
'alternatively a politician's' is the wordplay.
'alternatively' becomes 'or'.
'politician' becomes 'tory' (I've seen this before).
'or'+'a'+'tory'='ORATORY'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for oratory that I've seen before include "Private chapel; art of public speaking" , "School" , "Rhetoric - chapel" , "formal speech" , "Eloquent language" .)