Liberal politician avoiding hail and whirlwind (4)
I believe the answer is:
eddy
'whirlwind' is the definition.
(eddy can mean a circular movement of air)
'liberal politician avoiding hail' is the wordplay.
'liberal politician' becomes 'Ed Davey' (leader of the Liberal Democrats).
'avoiding' suggests deleting specific letters.
'hail' becomes 'ave' (greeting in Latin).
'eddavey' with 'ave' removed is 'EDDY'.
'and' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for eddy that I've seen before include "moving water" , "Founder of sect" , "religious leader" , "Circle around" , "Boy" .)