Crossword Genius

Drive English leader around in centre of Basildon (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

impel

'drive' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'english leader around in centre of basildon' is the wordplay.
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'leader' becomes 'pm' (PM is an example).
'around' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'centre of' indicates the central letters.
The middle of 'basildon' is 'il'.
'e'+'pm'='epm'
'epm' written backwards gives 'mpe'.
'mpe' inserted inside 'il' is 'IMPEL'.

(Other definitions for impel that I've seen before include "Urge forward - push" , "Urge or force to action" , "Urge or drive to do something" , "Urge or propel" , "Cause to move forward" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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