Tory minister in struggle (7)
I believe the answer is:
contend
'struggle' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'tory minister' is the wordplay.
'tory' becomes 'con' (abbreviation for Conservative).
'minister' becomes 'tend' (I've seen this before).
'con'+'tend'='CONTEND'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for contend that I've seen before include "Engage in a struggle" , "Debate - contest - claim" , "Tend NCO (anag.)" , "Compete; deal (with)" , "fight" .)