Heckling in the House of Commons, if you can even hear it over the cheering and clapping, is often rather banal. MPs tend to resort to predictable partisan attacks.

Sometimes, though, it gets personal, even very personal, like today.

This exchange took place just before question period, which itself was a pretty raucous affair Thursday. Ed Fast, the Conservative MP from Abbotsford, B.C., rose to congratulate his party on the passage of the government's new crime law, which had been hung up for a bit in the Liberal-dominated Senate.

That was when Liberal MP Shawn Murphy, from Charlottetown, who sits next to Fast turned in his seat towards the microphone and started yelling, "Get tough on crime, bring forth Brian Mulroney! Hang him high, hang Mulroney! Let's get this Mulroney before the courts as soon as possible and hang him high! We gotta get Mulroney, put a noose on his head, put a noose on his head. Get tough on crime."

Murphy is head of the Commons public accounts committee, the one that recently suggested citing a senior Mountie for contempt while it was probing management problems within the force.

CBC called Murphy's office for an explanation but he didn't return our call. His office said he was rushing for a flight back to his constituency.