Downtrodden, like Labour in the early 80s? (9)
I believe the answer is:
underfoot
'downtrodden' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I cannot understand how the rest of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for underfoot that I've seen before include "Little babies often are" , "on the ground" , "How things are trodden" .)