Gift I’d carried for top politician (9)
I believe the answer is:
president
'top politician' is the definition.
'gift i'd carried' is the wordplay.
'gift' becomes 'present' (present is a kind of gift).
'carried' indicates putting letters inside (one word carried by another word).
'present' going around 'id' is 'PRESIDENT'.
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for president that I've seen before include "Republic's head" , "Head of state has an odd red instep" , "The chief executive of a republic" , "Leader of a republic" , "the boss" .)