What's afoot? Conservative leader involved in misconduct? (7)
I believe the answer is:
scandal
'misconduct?' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't see how they can define each other.
'what's afoot? conservative leader involved' is the wordplay.
'what's afoot?' becomes 'sandal' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'leader' indicates taking the first letters.
'involved' indicates putting letters inside.
The initial letter of 'conservative' is 'c'.
'sandal' enclosing 'c' is 'SCANDAL'.
'in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for scandal that I've seen before include "Shock" , "Public outrage; gossip" , "Dishonour" , "Outrageous event" , "Malicious talk; outrage" .)