Catches heartless politician’s alternative take on past (8)
I believe the answer is:
herstory
'alternative take on past' is the definition.
(history from a feminine perspective)
'catches heartless politician's' is the wordplay.
'catches' becomes 'hears' (catch can mean to hear or pick up).
'heartless' means to remove the middle letters.
'politician' becomes 'tory' (term for a Conservative Party politician).
'hears' with its middle removed is 'hers'.
'hers'+'tory'='HERSTORY'
(Other definitions for herstory that I've seen before include "Feminist records" , "Past record of women" .)