Late spin doctor carried in current up north (5)
I believe the answer is:
tardy
'late' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'spin doctor carried in current up north' is the wordplay.
'spin' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'doctor' becomes 'Dr' (abbreviation).
'carried in' is an insertion indicator.
'current up north' becomes 'Tay' (River Tay in Scotland).
'dr' written backwards gives 'rd'.
'rd' placed inside 'tay' is 'TARDY'.
(Other definitions for tardy that I've seen before include "Late - slow" , "Behindhand" , "Backward" , "Unpunctual" , "Late, delayed" .)