Criticise one Conservative leader acting out of fear? (9)
I believe the answer is:
panicking
'acting out of fear?' is the definition.
(panic is a type of fear)
'criticise one conservative leader' is the wordplay.
'criticise' becomes 'pan' (informal term meaning to criticise heavily).
'one' becomes 'I' (Roman numeral).
'conservative' becomes 'C' (UK political abbreviation).
'leader' becomes 'king' (a king is a royal leader).
'pan'+'i'+'c'+'king'='PANICKING'
(Other definitions for panicking that I've seen before include "Acting rashly through fear" , "Losing one's head" .)