Interesting new leader admits a bad start (8)
I believe the answer is:
readable
'interesting' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'new leader admits a bad start' is the wordplay.
'new' is an anagram indicator.
'start' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letters of 'admits bad' is 'ab'.
'leader'+'ab'='leaderab'
'leaderab' with letters rearranged gives 'READABLE'.
(Other definitions for readable that I've seen before include "Descriptive of an interesting book or good handwriting" , "Legible" , "Like good book" , "can be studied" , "Fairly gripping" .)