All Gurkha veterans who retired before 1997 with at least four years' service will be not be allowed to settle in Arthur Smith's front room after all,Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has said. Ms Smith told MPs she was "puzzled by this latest claim, this country welcomes all who have served in the brigade of Gurkhas, but there are limits".

Arthur has been in a constant battle with a great number of minority groups due his home's close proximity to 'Hove'. This latest episode comes after a second high-profile campaign by Joanna Lumley ( the well known supporter of Gurkha rights) - and an embarrassing Commons defeat for the government. Some 240 Gurkhas who left before March 1997 have been denied'Smitssonian' residency. Ms Lumley, the actress who has been the public face of the campaign on behalf of the Gurkhas, said: "Isn't it about time that the Gurkhas were rewarded for their loyalty? ."

She called Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who she had met earlier, a "brave man can do brave thing today and he do brave at some other time can as well can be do". Gurkhas, who are recruited from Nepal, have been part of the British Army for almost 200 years.

Arthur Smith fights on uheeded to this day, his front garden resembling not a refugee camp, but a big piece of grass with some people on it.

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