Leading lady's retreat just after party goes west (8)
I believe the answer is:
balmoral
'leading lady's retreat' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'just after party goes west' is the wordplay.
'just' becomes 'moral' ('moral' can be a synonym of 'just'**).
'after' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'party' becomes 'lab' (abbreviation for Labour).
'goes west' says the letters should be written backwards.
'lab' in reverse letter order is 'bal'.
'moral' after 'bal' is 'BALMORAL'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for balmoral that I've seen before include "Queen's castle" , "Royal castle in the Grampian" , "Royal place" , "Royal castle in Scotland" , "Queen's address?" .)