By NICK MCDERMOTT

Last updated at 19:17 08 March 2008

Senior Conservative Alan Duncan is to become the first Tory MP to enter into a civil partnership.

The party's business spokesman will make political history when he exchanges vows with his partner James Dunseath in the summer.

The pair, who announced their intended partnership today, met at a dinner party given by a mutual friend 14 months ago.

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Happy couple: Alan Duncan, 50, and James Dunseath, 39, are to 'marry' after meeting at a dinner party 14 months ago

Mr Duncan, 50, popped the question while they were holidaying in Oman on Valentine's Day. He said: "James joked that if I had not asked him on Valentine's Day he would have asked me on February 29."

David Cameron, who embraced same-sex relationships in his first speech as Tory leader, is reported to be 'thrilled' for Mr Duncan and hopes to attend the planned ceremony at Marylebone register office.

He said last night: "I am absolutely delighted for Alan and James and wish them all the very best."

Both men come from military backgrounds. Their families have given their blessing to the union.

Mr Duncan, the first Tory MP to openly declare he is gay, was asked by former leader Michael Howard to head the party's response to the civil partnership bill.

He said last night: "I never ever imagined that one day I would be a beneficiary of the legislation.

"What James and I are entering into is not a marriage, it is a civil partnership. You could not find two more conventional people to enter into a civil partnership."

Mr Dunseath, 39, a press officer in the City, almost died in 2000 when he was mugged when drawing money from a cash machine in Paris.

Speaking about their plans, he said: "It's just fantastic. We hit it off instantly and our friends say we are inseparable.

"He may be a politician but he's great fun. We both feel it's so right and we're very lucky."

The news, announced in the Court Social page of the Daily Telegraph, was welcomed in Mr Duncan's constituency of Rutland and Melton, where he has been the MP since 1992.

Sheila Randall, a member of the local Conservative association for more than five decades, told the Telegraph: "Alan and James are lovely men. I was on Alan's selection committee and have known and liked him ever since. I am so happy for them both."

Mr Duncan 'came out' in 2002, saying: "Living in disguise as a politician in the modern world simply isn't an option.

"The Tory view has always been, 'we don't mind, but don't say'. Well, that doesn't work any more. The only realistic way to behave these days is to be absolutely honest and upfront, however inconvenient that may be at first."

The first MP to enter into a civil partnership was Labour health minister Ben Bradshaw, who went through the ceremony with his long-term partner, BBC producer Neal Dalgleish, in 2006.