Former Conservative employs attempts to justify actions (7)
I believe the answer is:
excuses
'attempts to justify actions' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'former conservative employs' is the wordplay.
'former' becomes 'ex' (prefix meaning former or onetime).
'conservative' becomes 'C' (UK political abbreviation).
'employs' becomes 'uses' ('use' can be a synonym of 'employ').
'ex'+'c'+'uses'='EXCUSES'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for excuses that I've seen before include "Defences of objective behaviour" , "Defences of offensive behaviour" , "Releases from a duty" , "Lets (someone) off duty" , "reasons for failure" .)