Deserts the Spaniards after a veto (8)
I believe the answer is:
abandons
'deserts' is the definition.
('abandon' can be a synonym of 'desert')
'spaniards after a veto' is the wordplay.
'spaniards' becomes 'dons' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'after' says to put letters next to each other.
'veto' becomes 'ban' (banning is a kind of vetoing).
'a'+'ban'='aban'
'dons' after 'aban' is 'ABANDONS'.
'the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for abandons that I've seen before include "Deserts, forsakes" , "Deserts, gives up completely" , "Forsakes, leaves behind" , "Deserts, never intending to return" , "Deserts, leaves alone" .)