Followers always holding one up (7)
I believe the answer is:
retinue
'followers' is the definition.
(retinue can mean an important person's followers)
'always holding one up' is the wordplay.
'always' becomes 'eer' (poetic way of saying ever).
'holding' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'one' becomes 'unit' (synonyms).
'up' is a reversal indicator (in down clue: letters go upwards).
'eer' placed around 'unit' is 'euniter'.
'euniter' back-to-front is 'RETINUE'.
(Other definitions for retinue that I've seen before include "company" , "Band of attendants" , "Entourage, followers" , "Group of followers" , "Group following an important person" .)