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One Francis Maude, finally popular after taking the lead (4) - - p -

Pope ? (Francis)

Pop (popular) taking the lead
+ e (final letter of Maude)

Pips? One 'i' Francis Maude 'pps' (he was Parliamentary Private Secretary).

Pips is the plural of pip and does not seem to fit the definition in the clue

Perhaps you mean: "pips to the post" taking the lead?
But where does the "popular" bit fit in?

When an individual takes the lead he pips the rest of the field, pip would only fit if there was more than one taking the lead. I'm not sure about PPS for Francis Maude (a position he held a long time ago), but pope doesn't fit particularly well with clue either.

I took the definition to be: one Francis ( someone named Francis) e.g. the newly elected Pope.
I thought the comma was meant to mislead.
Maude (finally) = e + pop(abbrev. for popular)
I think maybe I've lost the plot ?

Popular is problematic even if pope is correct as the clue is: 'popular after taking the lead', implying the pop would come after.

I don't think you have lost the plot. Everything you say works. It's just not the best clue. Hey ho, will find out in two weeks.