Street lads name Harry and an influential old pollie (5,9)
I believe the answer is:
elder statesman
'an influential old pollie' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'street lads name harry' is the wordplay.
'harry' is an anagram indicator (harry can mean to attack or spoil).
'street'+'lads'+'name'='streetladsname'
'streetladsname' anagrammed gives 'ELDER STATESMAN'.
'and' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for elder statesman that I've seen before include "veteran politician - with 17d" , "Experienced politician" , "Perhaps Clinton" , "member with gravitas" , "Wise old politician" .)