Companion in Spain speeds up chat (8)
I believe the answer is:
schmooze
'chat' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'companion in spain speeds up' is the wordplay.
'companion' becomes 'ch' (I've seen this in other clues).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'spain' becomes 'e' (abbreviation for Espana).
'speeds' becomes 'zooms' (zooming is a kind of speeding**).
'up' shows that the letters should be reversed in order (in down clue: letters go upwards).
'e'+'zooms'='ezooms'
'ezooms' backwards is 'smooze'.
'ch' put into 'smooze' is 'SCHMOOZE'.
(Other definitions for schmooze that I've seen before include "chatter" , "Chat in friendly manner" , "Chat at a gathering" , "Chat - gossip" , "Talk intimately in order to manipulate" .)