Formerly a world leader, uninspiring English perhaps lead Italy (7,3)

I believe the answer is:

mehemet ali

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'formerly a world leader' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot judge whether this works.

'uninspiring english perhaps lead italy' is the wordplay.
'uninspiring' becomes 'meh' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'english' becomes 'E' (abbreviation as in OED).
'perhaps lead' becomes 'metal' (lead is a metal).
'italy' becomes 'i'.
'meh'+'e'+'metal'+'i'='MEHEMET ALI'

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