Obsequious Conservative on the phone (8)
I believe the answer is:
cringing
'obsequious' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'conservative on the phone' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'conservative' could be 'c' (UK political abbreviation) and 'c' is present in the answer.
'phone' could be 'ring' (to ring on the phone) and 'ring' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cringing that I've seen before include "Wincing in fear or embarrassment" , "Drawing back in fear or embarrassment" .)