the rank and file - the ordinary members of an organization and not its leaders.

Nearly two-thirds of the vote went to union leaders and rank-and-file party activists. (always before noun)

• the dog days
• the done thing
• the dreaded lurgy
• the dust settles
• the early bird catches the worm.
• the earth moved
• the ebb and flow
• the ebb and flow of
• the ebb and flow of something
• the end justifies the means.
• the end of the line
• the end of the road
• the eye of the storm
• the factory floor
• the facts of life
• the fag-end of
• the fag-end of something
• the fairer sex
• the fair sex
• the fat is in the fire
• the feathers fly
• the final curtain
• the final straw
• the fine print
• the [first/highest/next etc.] rung on the ladder