In a diary recalled work meeting one afternoon — this justifies conduct? (8)
I believe the answer is:
apologia
'this justifies conduct?' is the definition.
(an apologia defends a person's conduct)
'in a diary recalled work' is the wordplay.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'a diary' becomes 'alogia' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'recalled' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'work' becomes 'op' (common abbreviation for 'opus').
'op' written backwards gives 'po'.
'alogia' going around 'po' is 'APOLOGIA'.
'meeting one afternoon' acts as a link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
(Other definitions for apologia that I've seen before include "Written defence of one's conduct" , "Formal defence of one's conduct" , "Formal defence of one's actions" , "Personal written defence" , "Written defence or vindication" .)