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Figure a big government advocate is courting leaders (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

statistic

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'figure' is the definition.
(statistics are figures)

'a big government advocate is courting leaders' is the wordplay.
'a big government advocate' becomes 'statist' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'leaders' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letters of 'is courting' is 'ic'.
'statist'+'ic'='STATISTIC'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for statistic that I've seen before include "One single item of data" , "Collector's item" , "part of a table perhaps" , "E.g. crime figure" , "Piece of data" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.
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