Crossword Genius

Force to lie atrociously about a politician (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

impel

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'force' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'lie atrociously about a politician' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'politician' could be 'mp' (Member of Parliament) and 'mp' is present in the answer.
an anagram of 'lie' is 'iel' which is present in the remaining letters.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'to' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for impel that I've seen before include "Drive or coerce" , "Hold together" , "Force to act" , "Oblige" , "Urge or drive to do something" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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