Leading figure manipulated faith in CE (9)

I believe the answer is:

chieftain

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'leading figure' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?

'manipulated faith in ce' is the wordplay.
'manipulated' indicates an anagram.
'faith'+'in'+'ce'='faithince'
'faithince' is an anagram of 'CHIEFTAIN'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for chieftain that I've seen before include "Tribe's leader" , "Head of tribe" , "Head of a clan" , "Tribal leader" , "Clan leader" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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