Real idiot somehow becomes leader (9)
I believe the answer is:
editorial
'leader' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'real idiot somehow' is the wordplay.
'somehow' is an anagram indicator.
'real'+'idiot'='realidiot'
'realidiot' anagrammed gives 'EDITORIAL'.
'becomes' is the link.
(Other definitions for editorial that I've seen before include "paper item" , "(Paper's) leader" , "Paper's opinion piece" , "Statement of a newspaper's opinion" , "Newspaper item" .)