Fathers in protest at Harman home

The two men said they will not come down until the Government "takes them seriously".

The men said their names were Nigel Ace, 40, who was dressed as Spider-Man, and Tony Ashby, 42, in the Batman costume. They said they had enough food supplies to last for a week.

Mr Ace, who described himself as a sales manager from Bristol, said the stunt was provoked by Ms Harman's recent pledge to ensure equality in the workforce.

He said: "What about dads? We haven't got equality. The Government is ignoring us and has a feminist agenda. We want Harriet Harman to come back here and engage in a debate with us and, if not, then Gordon Brown should come. I am trained in survival, so I don't care how long we are up here."

Mr Ashby, who described himself as a painter and decorator from Leicester, said he had not seen his children for seven years.

He said: "We have been up here since 6am and we are in for the long haul. We don't want to cause trouble, we just want to get our message across."

The protest comes as Ms Harman is due to stand in for Gordon Brown in Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons while he attends the G8 summit in Japan. She left her home in Herne Hill, south London, at 7.45am and ignored the protesters, who draped a flag on her wall saying "Stop the war on dads".

The men said they had not been involved in any previous stunts and drew straws to decide who would stage the protest.

The demonstration is the second time in little over a month that Fathers 4 Justice has staged a protest at Ms Harman's home.