Excessively influential person makes boarding school expel Dobson, sadly (8)
I believe the answer is:
oligarch
'excessively influential person' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'boarding school expel dobson sadly' is the wordplay.
'expel' is a deletion indicator.
'sadly' is an anagram indicator.
'boarding'+'school'='boardingschool'
'boardingschool' with 'dobson' removed is 'arigchol'.
'arigchol' anagrammed gives 'OLIGARCH'.
'makes' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for oligarch that I've seen before include "Member of small ruling group" , "Rich Russian with political influence" , "powerful businessman" , "Very rich Russian businessman" , "Member of a small governing group" .)