Plays a bit rough with politicians (5)

I believe the answer is:

romps

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'plays' is the definition.
(I know this)

'a bit rough with politicians' is the wordplay.
'a bit rough with' becomes 'ro' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'politicians' becomes 'MPs' (Members of Parliament).
'ro'+'mps'='ROMPS'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for romps that I've seen is " Frolics".)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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