Firmly maintained orderly tidiness (8)
I believe the answer is:
insisted
'firmly maintained' is the definition.
'orderly tidiness' is the wordplay.
'orderly' indicates anagramming the letters.
'tidiness' is an anagram of 'INSISTED'.
(Other definitions for insisted that I've seen before include "Declared or demanded emphatically" , "Tidiness (anag.)" , "Demanded firmly" , "Persisted in maintaining" , "Was emphatic and refused to budge" .)