Crackpot ran at an imperial representative (15)

I believe the answer is:

parliamentarian

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'representative' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?

'crackpot ran at an imperial' is the wordplay.
'crackpot' is an anagram indicator (I've seen this in other clues).
'ran'+'at'+'an'+'imperial'='ranatanimperial'
'ranatanimperial' is an anagram of 'PARLIAMENTARIAN'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for parliamentarian that I've seen before include "Eg, an MP" , "elected representative?" , "politician" , "legislator" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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