Crossword Genius

Leader of council ushered back outside with plan to make a passionate speech (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

declaim

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'to make a passionate speech' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'leader of council ushered back outside with plan' is the wordplay.
'leader of' indicates taking the first letters.
'ushered back' becomes 'del' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'outside' is an insertion indicator.
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'plan' becomes 'aim' (aiming is a kind of planning).
The initial letter of 'council' is 'c'.
'c' put within 'del' is 'decl'.
'decl'+'aim'='DECLAIM'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for declaim that I've seen before include "Spout" , "Deliver an impassioned speech" , "Make a rhetorical speech" , "Deliver (words) impressively" , "Rail against" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.