Machiavellian figure in a doubtful topic (7)

I believe the answer is:

politic

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'machiavellian' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'figure in a doubtful topic' is the wordplay.
'figure' becomes 'li' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'a doubtful' indicates anagramming the letters.
'topic' is an anagram of 'potic'.
'li' put inside 'potic' is 'POLITIC'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for politic that I've seen before include "Wise, cautious" , "Diplomatic" , "Sensible, judicious" , "artful" , "Prudent, judicious" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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