Leading members in favour of rest, we're told (8)

I believe the answer is:

forepaws

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'leading members' is the definition.
(front or leading paws)

'favour of rest we're told' is the wordplay.
'favour of' becomes 'fore' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'rest' becomes 'pause' (I've seen this before).
'we're told' shows a homophone (sound like).
'pause' sounds like 'paws'.
'fore'+'paws'='FOREPAWS'

'in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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