Populist met with Draco in dispute (8)
I believe the answer is:
democrat
'populist' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'met with draco in dispute' is the wordplay.
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'in dispute' indicates an anagram (I've seen this in other clues).
'met'+'draco'='metdraco'
'metdraco' with letters rearranged gives 'DEMOCRAT'.
(Other definitions for democrat that I've seen before include "US politician" , "American politician" , "Believer in popular government" , "Republican's US rival" , "One who believes in government by the whole people" .)