Reticent about Conservative traitor, about to become irritable (8)
I believe the answer is:
scratchy
'irritable' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'reticent about conservative traitor about to' is the wordplay.
'reticent' becomes 'shy' (I've seen this before).
'about' indicates putting letters inside.
'conservative' becomes 'c' (abbreviation commonly used in UK politics).
'traitor' becomes 'rat' (I've seen this before).
'about to' becomes 'c' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'c'+'rat'+'c'='cratc'
'shy' going around 'cratc' is 'SCRATCHY'.
'become' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for scratchy that I've seen before include "Like many an old record" , "marked by abrasions" , "Irritable" , "carelessly" , "after scoring" .)