The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 plus 4 letter word POSITIVE POLE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
P
O
S
I
T
I
V
E
P
O
L
E
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "one inclined to go north" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case one inclined to go north = positive pole.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.