Tales involving southern Conservatives (7)
I believe the answer is:
stories
'tales' is the definition.
(a tale is a story)
'southern conservatives' is the wordplay.
'southern' becomes 's' (abbreviation).
'conservatives' becomes 'Tories' (informal term for the Conservative Party).
's'+'tories'='STORIES'
'involving' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for stories that I've seen before include "For example, scoops" , "Lies" , "Tales" , "Accounts" , "See 12" .)