Espy chief about to hold forth in public (9)

I believe the answer is:

speechify

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'to hold forth in public' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'espy chief about' is the wordplay.
'about' indicates anagramming the letters.
'espy'+'chief'='espychief'
'espychief' is an anagram of 'SPEECHIFY'.

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(Another definition for speechify that I've seen is " Talk at length".)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Independent.

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