Tanning ex-PM in government (8)
I believe the answer is:
browning
'tanning' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to change as well as being present participle verbs.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'ex-pm in government' is the wordplay.
'ex-pm' becomes 'brown' (former UK PM Gordon Brown).
'government' becomes 'g' (abbreviation for government).
'brown'+'in'+'g'='BROWNING'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for browning that I've seen before include "getting a tan" , "Flour for colouring gravy" , "Robert --, poet" , "Poet - used in gravy" , "Play by Terence Rattigan" .)