Intelligence head is propping up bar with Conservative (10)
I believe the answer is:
cleverness
'intelligence' is the definition.
(I know that cleverness is a type of intelligence)
'head is propping up bar with conservative' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'head' could be 'ness' (ness is a headland) and 'ness' is found within the answer.
'bar' could be 'lever' (lever is a kind of bar) and 'lever' is found within the answer.
'conservative' could be 'c' (UK political abbreviation) and 'c' is present in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cleverness that I've seen before include "genius, perhaps" , "Skill, adroitness" , "Quick intelligence" .)