Crossword Genius

Be in place with English man of the people (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

plebeian

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'of the people' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'be in place with english man' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'be' is found in the answer.
'place' could be 'pl' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'pl' is present in the answer.
'english' could be 'e' (abbreviation) and 'e' is present in the answer.
'man' could be 'ian' and 'ian' is present in the answer.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for plebeian that I've seen before include "Of the common people" , "not refined" , "Vulgar" , "(Roman) commoner" , "Common, proletarian" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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