Four activists used ladders and climbing ropes to reach the roof of the manor house in Kirby Sigston, North Yorkshire, before the 200sq/m piece of fabric was unveiled.

A fifth activist, who did not scale the roof, was later arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance in connection with the protest.

Mr Sunak is on holiday in California so was not at the mansion in his constituency this morning.

The four protesters spent more than three hours on top of the building as police said they were "managing the situation".

They began their descent at around 12.30pm and were waiting for each other on the roof of an extension on the property.

The activists were seen being led away from the house by police officers once they were down.

While the four protesters were on the roof, two Greenpeace activists unfurled a banner with the words "Rishi Sunak - Oil Profits or Our Future?" across the grass in front of the property.

Greenpeace was acting in protest against the prime minister's "backing for a major expansion of North Sea oil and gas drilling" - where it will grant 100 new licences off the coast of Scotland.

A Number 10 source said after it emerged the activists were on the roof: "We make no apology for taking the right approach to ensure our energy security, using the resources we have here at home so we are never reliant on aggressors like (Vladimir) Putin for our energy. We are also investing in renewables and our approach supports thousands of British jobs."

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden, who is standing in for Mr Sunak during his holiday, has defended the government's decision to allow more drilling for oil and gas, saying they are needed as part of our "energy mix".

Alex Wilson, one of the roof-scaling activists, released a video message from the top of Mr Sunak's house.

She said: "We're all here because Rishi Sunak has opened the door to a new drilling frenzy in the North Sea while large parts of our world are literally on fire. This will be a disaster for the climate."

Greenpeace campaigner Philip Evans said the group had made sure the PM's family were on holiday and not going to be at home before carrying out the protest.

He said the group had knocked on the door when they arrived and said "this is a peaceful protest" but there was no answer.

Mr Evans added: "Rishi Sunak's government has been the worst government we've had on climate."

Sunak is a 'climate arsonist', Greenpeace campaigner says

Greenpeace has said it is also carrying out its protest because Mr Sunak has indicated he will approve drilling at Rosebank - the UK's largest undeveloped oil field.

The group says the move "flies in the face of multiple warnings from the government's own climate advisers, the International Energy Agency and the UN secretary general that any new fossil fuel projects risk tipping the world into the danger zone above 1.5C of warming".

Campaigners have warned against Mr Sunak's plans to grant the licences for extraction in the North Sea amid concerns it will hinder efforts to reach net zero by 2050.

Mr Evans said: "We desperately need our prime minister to be a climate leader, not a climate arsonist.

"Sunak is even willing to peddle the old myth about new oil and gas helping ordinary people struggling with energy bills when he knows full well it's not true. More North Sea drilling will only benefit oil giants who stand to make even more billions from it, partly thanks to a giant loophole in Sunak's own windfall tax."

Sky News' policing analyst Graham Wettone, who used to police protests for the Metropolitan Police, said Greenpeace are "very well organised" and it "doesn't take them long" to scale buildings.

"Greenpeace normally has a ground team with a press team and the activists are normally trained climbers," he said.

"They aren't just a bunch of protesters who stick on a hard hat and climb up.

"Those climbers will be very professional; they will be used to this and they will stay there as long as they plan to be."

'Plonkers'

Speaking about the protest while on a visit to Able Seaton Port in Hartlepool, Mr Dowden said: "I think what most people would say is 'can you stop the stupid stunts', actually what they want to see from government is action.

"That's what you're seeing here today, the world's largest offshore wind farm being built right here, creating jobs.

"But at the same time we're going to need in the coming decades oil and gas as part of our energy mix.

"The question is do we produce it here, where we get more tax, we create more jobs, or do we do what the Labour and others say which is say 'no more investment in our North Sea oil and gas'?"

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Alicia Kearns, the senior Tory who chairs the Commons foreign affairs committee, called the protest "unacceptable".

She said: "Politicians live in the public eye and rightly receive intense scrutiny, but their family homes should not be under assault.

"Before long police will need to be stationed outside the home of every MP."

Government minister Alex Burghart called the activists "plonkers".

Conservative backbencher Brendan Clarke-Smith said: "MPs and their families have enough to worry about with their security without extremist groups and their spoilt activists pulling stunts like this at their homes to promote their unrealistic, extravagant demands and student union-level politics."