Protesters against the closure of a wind turbine factory chained themselves to Lord Mandelson's home in London.

It comes as the Business Secretary jetted back from Corfu to take control of the day-to-day business of Government.

Members of the Climate Rush campaign group gathered outside Lord Mandelson's two-storey property in Regent's Park, north London, in an ''act of solidarity'' for 625 workers set to lose their jobs at the Vestas factory in Newport, Isle of Wight.

Ellie Robson, 21, a history undergraduate at Cambridge University, said she wanted to expose the Government's hypocrisy over climate change as she chained herself to railings outside his house.

She said: ''Less than two weeks after announcing the Government's plans for a low-carbon Britain, Vestas shut down because there's no demand for wind turbines in this country.

''Mandelson, the man with in charge of the nation's purse strings, jets off to Corfu and ignores the Vestas workers' occupation.

''If we're going to have a low-carbon Britain then we need our Government to support these workers, rather than forcing the closure of their factory and the loss of their jobs.''

No one minister has officially been deputising for Prime Minister Gordon Brown over the weekend after Harriet Harman's foreign holiday overlapped with the Business Secretary's.

Downing Street was forced to issue a swift insistence that the PM remained ''in charge'' amid speculation that Lord Mandelson would be running the show via mobile phone from the Greek island.

But a spokesman for Lord Mandelson, who was flying back from the Greek island today, insisted it had been pre-agreed that he would be stand-in from his return today until August 16, when he is expected to hand over to Chancellor Alistair Darling.

The occupation of the Danish-owned Vestas factory ended last week when workers left the building after an 18-day protest.

One of the workers jumped 20 feet from a balcony before being led away by security guards, waving and smiling at the climate change activists and trade unionists who have been outside giving support during the protest.

The factory's owner, Vestas Wind Systems, had obtained a court order after six workers barricaded themselves into the plant, on an industrial estate on the outskirts of Newport, for more than two weeks in a bid to delay its closure and the loss of 625 jobs.