Crossword Genius

Rant of the French about Conservative I am following (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

declaim

'rant' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'of the french about conservative i am following' is the wordplay.
'of the french' becomes 'dela'.
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'conservative' becomes 'c' (abbreviation commonly used in UK politics).
'i am' becomes 'im'.
'following' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'dela' going around 'c' is 'decla'.
'decla'+'im'='DECLAIM'

(Other definitions for declaim that I've seen before include "attack" , "Recite with a touch of eloquence (7)" , "Make a set speech" , "Deliver (words) rhetorically" , "Hold forth" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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