Rural Britain took over central London today in the biggest invasion of its kind ever seen.

The Countryside Alliance’s Liberty and Livelihood rural rights march was tonight described as the biggest protest of any kind in the UK after at least 400,000 demonstrators converged on the capital.

John Jackson, chairman of the Countryside Alliance, declared the march a resounding success, but stressed it was not simply a protest to warn the Government off any attempt to ban hunting.

He repeated the message that hunting was the “touchstone issue”. How the Government dealt with the issue would be how people in the countryside would judge Tony Blair’s administration, he claimed.

Mr Jackson recounted a well worn list of grievances: the countryside suffers from a lack of funding from government, for education, transport and affordable housing. Farmers incomes are going down, jobs are being lost.

Tomorrow Mr Blair’s in-tray will include a 10-point letter from Mr Jackson headed What The Countryside Needs.

The Countryside Alliance has significant support from the Conservatives – a Mori poll of marchers found 82% would vote Tory in a General Election.

Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith was just one high profile marcher today, calling for the Government to stop “criminalising” hunters and address the real issues.

But rural affairs minister Alun Michael vowed to “nail the lie” that the Government does not understand the countryside.

Back on the streets protesters cited a variety of reasons for marching. The main sore point was a hunting ban, but many said the Government was becoming too bossy or the urban Labour elite just did not care about the countryside.

The last time London saw such a huge demonstration was the previous countryside march in 1998.

Like then, these campaigners were very different to the rioting poll tax protesters or the ban the bomb demonstrators of the CND, who previously brought the capital to a standstill.

Flat caps, brown corduroys and waxed Barbour jackets was the uniform today. As one marcher put it, it was the best dressed parade London has ever seen.

Not just farmers and hunters, but everyone from solicitors, doctors and housewives descended on London – not people normally moved to take to the streets.

Earl Spencer, brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, was among the vast numbers of people on the streets.

“The numbers are simply amazing,” he said. “I don’t think anyone could have anticipated such numbers of people.”

Actors Vinnie Jones and Edward Fox, TV presenter Melvyn Bragg, comic Jim Davidson and Sir Ranulph Fiennes were also among the VIP marchers.

For hour after hour, people pounded the streets to a cacophony of shrill hunting horns, whistles and the skirl of Scottish pipe bands.

A Mexican wave of cheering cascaded down the length of the march bringing a deafening roar.

Twenty to thirty abreast, the marchers held aloft flags, banners and home-made placards as wound their way to Parliament Square.

Only the odd bemused Japanese tourist needed to ask what it was all about.

Police arrested four anti-hunt protesters throughout the day, all for minor public order offences.

Both sides exchanged insults as marchers passed a small anti-hunt protest in Parliament Square.

“Blood junkies,” screamed one side. “You don’t understand the countryside,” shouted the other.

Whether the march will signal a sea-change in the way the Government deals with rural affairs remains to be seen.

The Countryside Alliance, which spent £1 million organising the march, hopes it can keep the momentum going.

A meeting of farming and country sports bodies has been convened to set up a rural council.

It is hoped it will stand alongside the TUC and CBI as a powerful influence on government policy.

But there is an equally powerful lobby pushing for a ban on hunting with hounds. Government proposals on a new law have been promised “within weeks”.