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Party member has short display about deserter (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

democrat

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'party member' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'short display about deserter' is the wordplay.
'short display' becomes 'demo' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'about' becomes 'c' (abbreviation for 'circa').
'deserter' becomes 'rat' (both can mean a traitor).
'demo'+'c'+'rat'='DEMOCRAT'

'has' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for democrat that I've seen before include "Cleveland?" , "One who believes in government by the whole people" , "Member of one of US parties" , "One advocates government by the people's elected representatives" , "US political party supporter" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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