Literal contribution to party politics (4)
I believe the answer is:
typo
'literal' is the definition.
(I know that literal can be written as typo)
'contribution to party politics' is the wordplay.
'contribution to' says the answer is hidden in the clue.
'TYPO' is hidden within 'party politics'.
(Other definitions for typo that I've seen before include "Printing error (colloq.)" , "Printer's mistake" , "Small keyboarding error" , "Printer's error" , "Literal - printing mistake" .)