Succeeded leaving drunk, manipulative person (8)
I believe the answer is:
svengali
'manipulative person' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'succeeded leaving drunk' is the wordplay.
'succeeded' becomes 's' (genealogical abbreviation).
'drunk' indicates an anagram.
'leaving' is an anagram of 'vengali'.
's'+'vengali'='SVENGALI'
(Other definitions for svengali that I've seen before include "Manipulative person" , "Leavings of a fictional evil hypnotist" , "Person who controls another's mind - musician and evil genius (created by George du Maurier)" , "One exerting evil mental control over another" , "Control freak" .)