Idiot and former PM is a comic figure (7,5)

I believe the answer is:

charlie brown

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'a comic figure' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't judge whether this works.

'idiot and former pm' is the wordplay.
'idiot' becomes 'charlie' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'former pm' becomes 'brown' (former UK PM Gordon Brown).
'charlie'+'brown'='CHARLIE BROWN'

'is' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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