The political classes must reflect on this demonstration of people power

Power to the people. That must surely be the message of this week's jubilating by the masses in central London. When there were wrangles, at the beginning of this year, between the Home Office and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport over who should take responsibility for organising the knees-up, the prospect was of a disaster akin to the Millennium Dome fiasco on New Year's Eve, 1999.

In the event it turned out all right on the night. But it was precisely because the politicians were sidelined that the party went with a swing. There is a moral here for the Government. State-sponsored patriotism does more harm than good. Mr Blair and his ministers seemed determined to keep out of the arrangements when they looked like being a flop. In January, there were even suggestions that Lord Falconer of Dome notoriety might have to step in to work up any interest.

I recommended then that Her Majesty should put her foot down and issue a royal command that "spontaneity will be the order of the day and that cringe-making events dreamed up by New Labour hangers on would not serve the best interests of the monarchy". The "new" and the "cool" and the "spin" have been replaced by the old, the timeless and the constant. The modern, today and fashionable have quickly become yesterday and unfashionable.

Cynic that I am, I cannot deny that the rule of the mob in The Mall made the event into more than a success than I had imagined. Living just a mile from the scene of the festivities I felt obliged to drink in the atmosphere and set off for the classical concert on Saturday night.

The crowds around big screens in the Mall spilled into St James's park. An indication that the mob ruled came early on when three middle-class people set up shop on deck chairs, blocking the view of hundreds sitting on the grass behind. Polite requests to abandon the chairs were resisted. Two policemen were summoned. Courteously removing their helmets they begged the recalcitrant trio to sit on the grass. The trio refused, saying they were breaking no law. A stand off ensued with the policemen withdrawing, unable to prevail. Mass boos ensued with the trio looking decidedly embarrassed. Eventually they caved in folding the chairs before slinking onto the ground. The rule of the mob meted out a rough justice where the long arm of the law had failed.

A similar incident occurred on Tuesday when we were waiting for Concorde. Unable to get into The Mall because of the crowds, we had all had staked our seated pitches two hours in advance. Several louts arrived minutes before the fly-past. Never have I seen loutish behaviour corrected so fast as they meekly turned on their heels – even apologising – like lambs certain in their own minds of a slaughter by the rest of the human herd.

But it was the sheer and sudden spontaneity of the occasion and the crowd that was the Queen's secret weapon. The most unlikely of characters who looked as though they did not give tuppence for royalty were queuing up to pay vendors £1 for a polythene plastic flag worth 10p.

This was all a cruel irony for Tony Blair's elected government. In the week when the unelected Queen was top of the pops, the BBC Today programme poll recorded that Labour was less trusted than even the Tories. As many as 54 per cent now trust the Government less than when it was re-elected a year ago this week, while 36 per cent say it is the least trustworthy party, compared with only 29 per cent saying that the Tories are the least trustworthy. But it is on the question of whether the Government has lived up to expectations on policy that Mr Blair has cause to feel real concern: 51 per cent said it had not lived up to expectations on education; 56 per cent on health; and a whopping 81 per cent saying it had failed on transport.

Perhaps there is, after all, a role for the crowd to express itself on occasions apart from royal jubilees. We do not normally take to the streets in great numbers – and then usually only at times of celebration. People power in Britain has usually been conducted through the ballot box, focus groups and opinion polls.

But there is a growing feeling of alienation which is coupled with the view that the politicians are not listening to the people. This is bringing all forms of democracy into a considerable measure of disrepute. Looking at most of those around me in The Mall, there was little to suggest the people were interested in politics. When Tony Blair occasionally flashed on to the giant screens, there were guffaws. Extraordinarily, these were not your suited middle classes and they were certainly not old-fashioned royalist Tories. They looked like typical apathetic voters and many of them probably never voted last year.

We have seen only two occasions in modern times when the negative power of the mob has had an impact. One was in 1990 during the poll tax riots. The other was in September 2000 when the fuel protest brought the country to a halt and changed Gordon Brown's policies relating to the fuel duty escalator. It can be argued that the ballot box is the place where these issues should be decided. But the ballot box does not always get it right, even though Mrs Thatcher thought she was entitled to say that she had a mandate for the poll tax.

If only that power of the people in The Mall on Tuesday could be harnessed to express itself on transport in London, we might see the Government questioning whether its public private partnership for the Tube can enable it to hide from the opposition of the people. Ken Livingstone's election, and his subsequent fight with the Government, is the nearest the mob have so far come in London to overthrowing traditional politicians.

For four days this week London has been totally clear of traffic. Most people cheerfully walked nearly everywhere – even in the rain. If the Queen's crowds in The Mall could get the Tube to run all night on Monday, then the power of this type of mob really could get politicians to sit up and take notice.

Of course people power and the force of the mob can lead to riots and rough justice. The annual May Day scenes in Oxford Street fail, however, because the masses are not behind the protesters. There is a difference, however, between anarchy and people power. Anarchy seeks to destroy by violence and consequently has little public backing. People power can succeed precisely because it is made up of the otherwise apathetic who have given up on politics.

At the beginning of the year an unnamed flunky at Buckingham Palace was reported as saying that they were not trying to ramp up the jubilee as the most fantastic few days of peoples' lives. "I am not going to complain if people say it is going to be a bit bleak", he was reported as saying. But it was people power that made it a success. The scenes in The Mall were awesome. That awesome power might yet be used outside Downing Street and Parliament if it is felt that the ballot box has failed.

mrbrown@pimlico.freeserve.co.uk