Source of inflation turned up by politician (4)
I believe the answer is:
pump
'source of inflation' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'turned up by politician' is the wordplay.
'turned' is a reversal indicator.
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'politician' becomes 'MP' (Member of Parliament).
'up' in reverse letter order is 'pu'.
'pu'+'mp'='PUMP'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pump that I've seen before include "Device for driving air or liquid" , "Device for moving fluids" , "Machine for moving liquids or gases" , "Light shoe worn for dancing" , "Fluid mover" .)