Outgoing Speaker condemns critics

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In a rare interview ahead of his formal retirement from Parliament, the Scot said working-class Glaswegians are "too good to wipe the boots" of his detractors.

He was forced to announce he was quitting the position after MPs stood up to him in the Commons over his handling of the expenses row.

But, speaking to Labour peer Lord Hattersley for The Observer, Mr Martin insisted: "If I had fought, I would have won."

He maintained he was always up to the job, but had become a "lightning conductor" for anger over the expenses scandal.

The former sheet metal worker has endured years of torment about his background since being elected Speaker in 2000.

He also acknowledged that the recent criticism of him and his wife Mary had been painful.

"Of course the attacks hurt," he said. Of his wife, he added: "One woman said she was only a steel smelter's daughter. Not fit to be a Speaker's wife. They must have gone to the trouble to look up her birth certificate."

The election of the next Speaker will be held in the Commons on Monday.