Whip accepting work with Young Conservatives is an imitator (7)
I believe the answer is:
copycat
'an imitator' is the definition.
('copycat' can be a synonym of 'imitator')
'whip accepting work with young conservatives' is the wordplay.
'whip' becomes 'cat' (cat o' nine tails, cat for short is a type of whip).
'accepting' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'work with' becomes 'op' (common abbreviation for 'opus'. I am not sure about the 'with' bit.).
'young' becomes 'y'.
'conservatives' becomes 'c' (abbreviation in UK politics).
'op'+'y'+'c'='opyc'
'cat' enclosing 'opyc' is 'COPYCAT'.
'is' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for copycat that I've seen before include "not the original one" , "Person imitating another (or cloned pet?)" , "Some murders are" , "Ape" , "Emulator" .)