Support Councillor ahead of awkward deal (6)
I believe the answer is:
cradle
'support' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'councillor ahead of awkward deal' is the wordplay.
'councillor' becomes 'cr' (I've seen this in other clues**).
'ahead of' means one lot of letters go next to another (I've seen this in other clues).
'awkward' indicates an anagram.
'deal' is an anagram of 'adle'.
'cr'+'adle'='CRADLE'
(Other definitions for cradle that I've seen before include "Rocking cot" , "The hand that rocks it rules the world, they say" , "Hold lovingly" , "Rocking bed" , "Hold tenderly" .)