Conservative remains ready (4)
I believe the answer is:
cash
'ready' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'conservative remains' is the wordplay.
'conservative' becomes 'c' (abbreviation commonly used in UK politics).
'remains' becomes 'ash' (I've seen this before).
'c'+'ash'='CASH'
(Other definitions for cash that I've seen before include "Till" , "Singer Johnny, d. 2003" , "Wimbledon champion" , "Spondulicks" , "Brass" .)