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Hello and welcome to this edition of The Westminster Hour with me, Ben Wright, and my guests.

Coming up, Parliament returns from its Easter break with the same issue dominating the agenda,

the war in the Middle East and the domestic fallout.

We'll hear from the EU's

former Foreign Affairs Chief and Nuclear Negotiated Baroness Ashton about the prospects for a peace

deal between the US and Iran and restoring international shipping. We'll look ahead to crucial

elections in England, Scotland and Wales and the prospects for the main parties.

And we'll discuss the pensions triple lock. The cost has escalated since it came into effect 15 years ago. So why is it sacrosanct for the current generation of politicians?

First, let's meet my panel. Paul War swapped writing about politics for practicing it, becoming the Labour MP for Rochdale at the last general election,

after a distinguished career as a political journalist, now representing the town where you grew up, Paul.

Yes, indeed.

Were you there shoving leaflets through letterboxes over Easter?

I was on the doorstep o'am this morning and enjoying every minute. How did it go? It was great, actually. People are more on board of what the government's doing than something the media might suggest. We'll come on to some of that. Mark Harper was a regular guest on this programme when he was a Conservative MP. He lost his seat in 2024, but has recently returned to Westminster joining the

Tory benches in the House of Lords. Welcome back, Mark. During his Commons career, Mark

served as Transport Secretary, Chief Whip, and was also a Minister for Immigration and for

disabled people. Do you still do a bit of leafleting in your spare time, or are you delighted to leave missing far behind? We haven't got any local elections this year, but I did tons last year after the general election. We had county council elections. So yes, I've still been doing lots of door knocking, even having not been in the House gone. Even now, you're not seeking re-election, you can say that you enjoy it.

Yeah, I do. No, I love campaigning. No, I'm actually one of those people who I was enjoyed campaigning. I was never, there are some MPs. Never bitten by a dog or a letterbox or a horror story. Some MPs don't really like campaigning, but I actually loved it. Getting out and meeting people is actually the point of the job, fun bit. Manera Wilson is the Liberal Democrat MP for Twickenham and is also her party's spokesperson on education,

children and families. Lib Dems do love a bit of pavement politics, don't they, Manera?

Yeah, absolutely love it. Are you finding people are delighted to find a politician knocking at their door at the moment,

or is the mood a little less welcoming?

No, I've generally, I mean, I've been out and about in my constituency several times this week

...