Prejudiced folk should keep quiet — they can have a lot of influence (3,5)

I believe the answer is:

big shots

'they can have a lot of influence' is the definition.
(influential people)

'prejudiced folk should keep quiet' is the wordplay.
'prejudiced folk' becomes 'bigots' (bigotry is prejudice).
'should keep' indicates putting letters inside.
'quiet' becomes 'sh' (both can be said to tell someone to be quiet).
'bigots' placed around 'sh' is 'BIG SHOTS'.

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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