Equated business politician with a communist (8)
I believe the answer is:
compared
'equated' is the definition.
('compare' can be a synonym of 'equate')
'business politician with a communist' is the wordplay.
'business' becomes 'co' (short for company).
'politician' becomes 'MP' (Member of Parliament).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'communist' becomes 'red' (red can informally mean communist).
'co'+'mp'+'a'+'red'='COMPARED'
(Other definitions for compared that I've seen before include "Looked at similarities and differences" , "Drop mace (anag.)" , "Likened or contrasted" , "set side by side" .)