Intimate papers stolen by Tory supporter close to government (9)
I believe the answer is:
confidant
'intimate' is the definition.
(I know that intimate can be written as confidant)
'papers stolen by tory supporter close to government' is the wordplay.
'papers' becomes 'ID' (identification papers).
'stolen by' is an insertion indicator (inserted letters are taken or stolen).
'tory' becomes 'con' (abbreviation for conservative).
'supporter' becomes 'fan' (fan is a kind of supporter).
'close to' indicates one should take the final letters (the 'close' to the word).
The final letter of 'government' is 't'.
'con'+'fan'='confan'
'id' inserted within 'confan' is 'confidan'.
'confidan'+'t'='CONFIDANT'
(Other definitions for confidant that I've seen before include "Trusted friend" , "Close friend entrusted with secrets etc" , "Sharer of secrets" , "intimate" .)