Excessively protecting Tory leader in public (7)
I believe the answer is:
overtly
'in public' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'excessively protecting tory leader' is the wordplay.
'excessively' becomes 'overly' ('overly' can be a synonym of 'excessively').
'protecting' is an insertion indicator.
'tory leader' becomes 't' (I've seen this in other clues).
'overly' enclosing 't' is 'OVERTLY'.
(Other definitions for overtly that I've seen before include "Publicly; evidently" , "So that anyone can see" , "no attempt at concealment" , "Obviously" , "Observably, not hidden" .)