Pertinent to the British queen's return to the Middle East (8)
I believe the answer is:
relevant
'pertinent' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'british queen's return to the middle east' is the wordplay.
'british' becomes 'navel' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'queen' becomes 'ER' (abbreviation for Elizabeth Regina).
'return' is a reversal indicator.
'to the middle' means to look at the middle letters (I've seen 'the middle of' mean this).
'east' becomes 'partner' (East and West are partners in the card game bridge).
The middle letter of 'partner' is 't'.
'navel'+'er'='naveler'
'naveler' reversed gives 'relevan'.
'relevan'+'t'='RELEVANT'
'to the' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for relevant that I've seen before include "Suitable" , "Material" , "Related to the matter in hand" , "Germane, apropos" , "Bearing on the issue in hand" .)