Unsparing revelations by MP Michelle Thomson that she was raped aged 14 are to be investigated by Police Scotland.

The independent MP for Edinburgh West told a stunned House of Commons that she had been attacked in a wooded area 37 years ago by someone she knew.

A police spokesman confirmed last night that the force will contact Ms Thomson about her ordeal, which occurred on the way home from a youth event

Ms Thomson told MPs how the attack had been “mercifully quick”, but that she had carried the “guilt, anger, fear, sadness and bitterness” for years.

The 51-year-old disclosed that she had “briefly and appallingly” hoped she might have fallen pregnant in a bid to force a situation to help “control” what had happened.

Speaking to The Herald later, Ms Thomson said she had forewarned her husband and two children, aged 22 and 20, that she planned to share her story during a Commons debate focused on UN International Day For The Elimination Of Violence Against Women. She also informed her friend Roger Mullin MP, who sat in support behind her in the sparsely populated chamber.

“I did not know whether I would be able to do it. I felt so nervous and afraid. I had a hanky next to me, just in case. And I just did not know how it was going to go until I stood up and then I thought ‘this is okay, because I’m talking about what is true’,” she said.

“I am 51 now and it took me 37 years before I could even get to this point. But if helps other people then that is exactly what I wanted to do.”

At the end of her six-minute speech during which she insisted she was “not a victim” but “a survivor”, the visibly moved Speaker John Bercow, who appeared to have tears in his eyes, thanked Ms Thomson. He said her speech had “left an indelible impression” on the House.

Fellow MP, the Labour frontbencher Sarah Champion, crossed the benches to embrace Ms Thomson, telling her: “We all felt the horror and we are all sorry for you and every other girl that experiences that horror”. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon later described the speech as “very moving and incredibly brave” and said it would help give strength to others.

The 1979 attack, which left Ms Thomson feeling “spoiled and impure”, had “fatally undermined” her self esteem, she told the Commons.

She said her senses had been “absolutely numbed” by the incident. “Afterwards I walked home alone,” she said.

“I was crying, I was cold and I was shivering, and I now realise that was of course the shock response.

“I didn’t tell my mother, I didn’t tell my father, I didn’t tell my friends, and I didn’t tell the police. I bottled it all up inside me.” In an “act of love” and protection, she had never told her mother about the incident, but had “felt a duty” to tell her husband when she was married 12 years later.

“For many years I simply could not say the words without crying,” she said. “It was only in my mid-40s that I took some steps to go and get help with it.”

Ms Thomson said there was “still a taboo” about talking about rape. “Certainly for people of my generation, it is truly shocking to be talking in public about this thing,” she said.

Home Office minister Sarah Newton praised the MP for “breaking that taboo”, while Sandy Brindley, of Rape Crisis Scotland, said it was a “brave and important thing to do”.

She added: “Many women who have been raped find it very hard to tell anyone about what has happened.

“Someone speaking so publicly about rape can send a strong message to other rape survivors – that the shame is not theirs, and it is okay to talk about it and to seek support.”

A Police Scotland spokesman said: “We will listen to any such disclosure, regardless of the passage of time, and will investigate.”

Ms Thomson became an independent MP after resigning the SNP whip last year after it was revealed that her

lawyer was at the centre of a police investigation and had been struck off over property dealings that involved her.

Police Scotland is not investigating her over any wrongdoing.