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The Labor Party MPs and MEPs have differing attitudes towards the issue of European integration, showing possible divisions in the party. A survey of Labor MPs and MEPs reveals that, contrary to the expectation of Tony Blair, the members have conflicting views regarding the acceptance of free market policy emanating from Europe and retaining a communist leaning. The Parliamentary Labor Party and the European Parliamentary Labor Party are divided in their views on European integration, issues related to European Monetary Union and the consequences of the 1996 Intergovernmental conference.

The convergence of a widening social base in the Parliamentary Conservative Party with an increasingly middle class Parliamentary Labour Party has been a persistent observation of postwar elite studies. Claims are frequently made that the Thatcher and Major years have produced a more 'classless' Conservative elite. On the basis of new research, it is demonstrated that members of the socio-educational elite continue to enjoy vastly disproportionate access to Conservative parliamentary seats; that they enjoy even more disproportionate access to safe seats; and that they continue to enjoy still more disproportionate access to office in Conservative governments. Furthermore, in the last decade long-term trends to social convergence have gone into reverse. Key words: Conservatives, elites, cohorts, parliament, elections, safe seats.

A survey indicates that a majority of Conservative Party members in the United Kingdom, are opposed to the European Community's social and labor policy. Prime Minister John Major's agenda for the 1996 intergovernmental conference on the Community will get support if it focusses on increasing the strength of the intergovernmental section of the European Union and curbing the autonomous power of the Community. A 56 per cent of Tory members prefer the nullification of the Treaty of Rome and uphold the supremacy of the House of Commons over Community's legal provisions. Results of the survey are detailed.

~The real problem is one of a tiny majority. Don't overlook that I could have all these clever decisive things which people wanted me to do--but I would have split [...]

The British Conservative Party may split over membership in the EC, but it is still unlikely. The party has indeed split twice before: in 1903 over Tariff Reform, leading to an electoral defeat in 1906, and in 1846 over the Corn Laws. There were two other significant divisions in 1940 and 1922. The issue of EC membership can be analyzed along the two dimensions of sovereignty vs independence and extended vs minimal government. John Major's Cabinet is navigating the two dimensions to prevent a final split.

The IMF settlement of December 1976 looms large in popular and partisan views of the politics of the 1970s. It is argued here that conventional academic wisdom has come to embody several misleading myths about its impact on economic policy. Evidence is presented to challenge four such myths which suggest that the IMF forced the Labour government to launch an attack on public spending, introduce cash limits to control public spending, introduce monetary targets and abandon the pursuit of full employment through demand management. Although the language of the (IMF) negotiations reflected the arcane terms of international finance ... the decisions required of the British Government were profoundly political ... behind the technical financial decisions lay fundamental differences over the appropriate balance between the private and public sectors, the priority between capital accumulation and social welfare, the relative weight to be given to incentives and equality ... What was at issue was the future shape of the political economy of Great Britain.

The social and ideological background of new Conservative MPs and ministers was examined to assess changes in the class nature of the Conservative Party and the success or failure rate for 'Thatcherite' and non-'Thatcherite' MPs and ministers. Many MPs who first took their seats in 1979 and 1983 had a state school background, whereas MPs who won their first elections in 1987 and 1992 were largely from public school backgrounds. Very few Conservative MPs belonged to the 'Thatcherite' group, which was found to have lost cabinet posts to the 'Wet/Damp' or leftist group.

This CD-ROM is indispensable to students of British political science because it contains the most comprehensive information ever. It affords access to key British Election Studies (BES) results, the database of all 2,853 BES questions from 1964 to 1992, the SPSS datasets in two formats, as well as the UK-Elect shareware package. The data can be accessed by pushing buttons labelled 'attitudes and values,''demographic data,' and 'elections and parties.'

This CD-ROM consists of databases developed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). It is an indispensable research and teaching resource since it covers the movement of refugees from war-torn areas, from within the European Union and even those from affluent metropolitan areas. 'Refworld' includes all General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, presidential statements to the Security Council, international and regional legal instruments on refugee and humanitarian matters.