Defame, at a press gathering, the English (7)
I believe the answer is:
asperse
'defame' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'a press gathering the english' is the wordplay.
'gathering' is an anagram indicator (letters gathered in a new way).
'the english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'a'+'press'='apress'
'apress' is an anagram of 'aspers'.
'aspers'+'e'='ASPERSE'
'at' is the link.
(Other definitions for asperse that I've seen before include "Slander like Parsees" , "See spar could slander oddly" , "Slander, spread false rumours about - as peers may?" , "Defame" , "Slander or calumniate" .)