Bring on popular Italian leader (6)
I believe the answer is:
induce
'bring on' is the definition.
('induce' can be a synonym of 'bring on')
'popular italian leader' is the wordplay.
'popular' becomes 'in'.
'italian leader' becomes 'duce' (I've seen this before**).
'in'+'duce'='INDUCE'
(Other definitions for induce that I've seen before include "Persuade or bring on, say birth" , "Persuade, hasten childbirth" , "Bring on, cause to happen" , "Bring on by artificial means" , "Give rise to" .)