Criticise current Conservative anxiety (5)
I believe the answer is:
panic
'anxiety' is the definition.
(panic is a kind of anxiety)
'criticise current conservative' is the wordplay.
'criticise' becomes 'pan' (informal term meaning to criticise heavily).
'current' becomes 'I' (symbol for electric current).
'conservative' becomes 'C' (abbreviation commonly used in UK politics).
'pan'+'i'+'c'='PANIC'
(Other definitions for panic that I've seen before include "Losing one's head" , "Blind fear" , "Overwhelming terror" , "Alarm, scare" , "Great consternation" .)