diff --git a/Lib/httplib.py b/Lib/httplib.py
index 20a9204..1f584ef 100644
--- a/Lib/httplib.py
+++ b/Lib/httplib.py
@@ -652,11 +652,18 @@
         self.__response = None
         self.__state = _CS_IDLE
         self._method = None
+        self._tunnel_host = None
+        self._tunnel_port = None
 
         self._set_hostport(host, port)
         if strict is not None:
             self.strict = strict
 
+    def _set_tunnel(self, host, port=None):
+        """ Sets up the host and the port for the HTTP CONNECT Tunnelling."""
+        self._tunnel_host = host
+        self._tunnel_port = port
+
     def _set_hostport(self, host, port):
         if port is None:
             i = host.rfind(':')
@@ -677,11 +684,30 @@
     def set_debuglevel(self, level):
         self.debuglevel = level
 
+    def _tunnel(self):
+        self._set_hostport(self._tunnel_host, self._tunnel_port)
+        self.send("CONNECT %s:%d HTTP/1.0\r\n\r\n" % (self.host, self.port))
+        response = self.response_class(self.sock, strict = self.strict,
+                                       method = self._method)
+        (version, code, message) = response._read_status()
+
+        if code != 200:
+            self.close()
+            raise socket.error, "Tunnel connection failed: %d %s" % (code,
+                                                                     message.strip())
+        while True:
+            line = response.fp.readline()
+            if line == '\r\n': break
+
+
     def connect(self):
         """Connect to the host and port specified in __init__."""
         self.sock = socket.create_connection((self.host,self.port),
                                              self.timeout)
 
+        if self._tunnel_host:
+            self._tunnel()
+
     def close(self):
         """Close the connection to the HTTP server."""
         if self.sock:
@@ -1070,6 +1096,9 @@
             "Connect to a host on a given (SSL) port."
 
             sock = socket.create_connection((self.host, self.port), self.timeout)
+            if self._tunnel_host:
+                self.sock = sock
+                self._tunnel()
             self.sock = ssl.wrap_socket(sock, self.key_file, self.cert_file)
 
     __all__.append("HTTPSConnection")