Rule minister managed to avoid article (6)
I believe the answer is:
govern
'rule' is the definition.
(I know that rule can be written as govern)
'minister managed to avoid article' is the wordplay.
'minister' becomes 'gove' (I've seen this in other clues).
'managed' becomes 'ran' (both can mean organised or was in charge of).
'to avoid' suggests deleting specific letters.
'article' becomes 'a' (English indefinite article).
'ran' with 'a' taken away is 'rn'.
'gove'+'rn'='GOVERN'
(Other definitions for govern that I've seen before include "Run" , "Rule over or regulate" , "Control and direct the affairs of" , "'Rule over, control (6)'" , "Rule or administer" .)