Commiserated as Tory Party came first (8)

I believe the answer is:

condoled

'commiserated' is the definition.
(condoling is a kind of commiserating)

'tory party came first' is the wordplay.
'tory' becomes 'con' (abbreviation for Conservative).
'party' becomes 'do' (do is a kind of party).
'came first' becomes 'led' (I've seen this in other clues).
'con'+'do'+'led'='CONDOLED'

'as' is the link.

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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