Spy mother with vacuum perhaps (7)
I believe the answer is:
maclean
'spy' is the definition.
(British spy Donald Maclean)
'mother with vacuum perhaps' is the wordplay.
'mother' becomes 'ma' (Ma is another word for mother or mum).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'vacuum perhaps' becomes 'clean' (vacuuming is a kind of cleaning).
'ma'+'clean'='MACLEAN'
(Other definitions for maclean that I've seen before include "novelist" , "5 [HOMER]" .)