Former eastern politician getting the first of these free (6)
I believe the answer is:
exempt
'free' is the definition.
('exempt' can be a synonym of 'free')
'former eastern politician getting the first of these' is the wordplay.
'former' becomes 'ex'.
'eastern' becomes 'e'.
'politician' becomes 'mp'.
'getting' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'the first of' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letter of 'these' is 't'.
'ex'+'e'+'mp'+'t'='EXEMPT'
(Other definitions for exempt that I've seen before include "Free from, eg, tax" , "Permitted to be unaffected" , "free from tax, say" , "Not liable, as others may be" , "Free (from obligation)" .)