As London club, wanting a liberal in charge (7)
I believe the answer is:
arsenic
'as' is the definition.
(As is the chemical symbol for arsenic)
'london club wanting a liberal in charge' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'a' is found in the answer.
'in charge' could be 'ic' (abbreviation for 'in charge') and 'ic' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for arsenic that I've seen before include "Element No 33" , ", it goes with old lace" , "Toxic metalloid element" , "killer" , "Ratsbane" .)