Deputy close to Gordon Brown also in speech (6,3)
I believe the answer is:
number two
'deputy' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'close to gordon brown also in speech' is the wordplay.
'close to' says to take the final letters (the close of something is the end).
'brown' becomes 'umber' (umber is a kind of brown).
'also' becomes 'too' (synonyms).
'in speech' shows a homophone (sound like).
The final letter of 'gordon' is 'n'.
'too' is a homophone of 'two'.
'n'+'umber'+'two'='NUMBER TWO'
(Other definitions for number two that I've seen before include "Second-in-command" , "Assistant" , "Dump" , "deputy" , "Second in command" .)