Gay soap star to wed his partner

Celebrities from the soaps and politics are turning out on Saturday to celebrate the civil partnership ceremony of former EastEnders star Michael

Mr Cashman, 55, played the first major gay character in EastEnders in the
mid-1980s and is 'marrying' his real-life partner of 23 years, Paul
Cottingham, 41, in London.

And one of the most famous faces at the celebration will be the woman who
first introduced the pair - EastEnders star Barbara Windsor.

Also on the star-studded guest list are Ross Kemp, June Brown and Laila Morse from EastEnders and Helen Worth from Coronation Street.

Sue Johnston, from the Royle Family and Waking The Dead, Arabella Weir, who
appears in and writes The Fast Show, Trudy Goodwin and Roberta Taylor from
The Bill and Richard Wilson (Victor Meldrew) will also be there.

Big screen and stage stars Sir Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart are also going.

The world of politics will be represented by Chancellor Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah, Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett and her husband Leo, former Labour leader and EU Commissioner Lord Kinnock and his wife Lady Kinnock, and Prime Minister Tony Blair's wife Cherie.

Mr Cashman has always mixed acting and politics - at the age of 17 he was a shop steward for the actors' union Equity.

Barbara Windsor was performing with Mr Cashman in Scarborough in 1983 when
she introduced him to Butlins redcoat Mr Cottingham, now an events organiser.

The actor rose to national fame in 1986 when he joined the EastEnders cast as Colin Russell, the first major gay character in a soap.

It was during his time on the programme that he became chairman of the
campaigning gay rights group Stonewall.

In 1998 he was elected to the Labour Party National Executive and was elected as a Labour MEP for the West Midlands in 1999.

Since then he has continued campaigning for gay and lesbian rights across
Europe and on Saturday he becomes the first political figure in Europe to
take advantage of the new civil partnership ceremony.

Mr Cashman said: 'A dream of equality has become a reality that I never thought would happen in my lifetime. At last we can enjoy rights and
responsibilities that have been so long denied, and for no good or just reason.

'We are both so excited, and I have never been so nervous. Paul has
organised the whole thing. That is his job - thank goodness.'

Appropriately for an actor, the ceremony will be held in banqueting halls in south London close to Shakespeare's rebuilt Globe Theatre.

When Mr Cashman returns to his European Parliament office he will continue his current campaign - against Poland's recent crackdown on Gay Pride marches.