Many a politician is apt to flop (4)
I believe the answer is:
limp
'many a' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'politician is apt to flop' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'politician' could be 'mp' (Member of Parliament) and 'mp' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'li' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for limp that I've seen before include "Not stiff or firm" , "Weak" , "Walk with an injury" , "Uneven way of walking" , "Wanting stiffness" .)