Devil consumes Republican ally (6)
I believe the answer is:
friend
'ally' is the definition.
(I know that ally can be written as friend)
'devil consumes republican' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'republican' could be 'r' (abbreviation) and 'r' is found within the answer.
'devil' could be 'fiend' (synonyms) and 'fiend' is found in the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for friend that I've seen before include "one quaking in society?" , "Ally, supporter" , "Buddy, mate" , "Member of a religious community" , "Pal or buddy" .)