The Streamline Diffusion Finite Element Method (SDFEM) for a two dimensional convection-diffusion problem is analyzed in the context of the hp-version of the Finite Element Method (FEM). It is proved that the appropriate choice of the SDFEM parameters leads to stable methods on the class of "boundary layer meshes" which may contain anisotropic needle elements of arbitrarily high aspect ratio. Consistency results show that the use of such ...