About graduate joining liberal faction (5)
I believe the answer is:
cabal
'faction' is the definition.
(I know that faction can be written as cabal)
'about graduate joining liberal' is the wordplay.
'about' becomes 'ca' (short for circa).
'graduate' becomes 'BA' (someone with a Bachelor of Arts degree).
'joining' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'liberal' becomes 'l' (abbreviation).
'ca'+'ba'+'l'='CABAL'
(Other definitions for cabal that I've seen before include "secret council" , "Plotting group" , "Group of conspirators" , "Small group of (eg political) plotters" , "Group of political intriguers" .)