江湖再见！说完这句话，梅姨哽咽离开……

当地时间24日，一身红衣的英国首相特雷莎•梅，在唐宁街10号门口那个令人熟悉又陌生的小发言台前宣布——将于6月7日正式辞去保守党党首职务。

“没能顺利完成脱欧，对我来说，将永远是一个深深的遗憾。”

“我很快将离开这个我毕生引以为荣的职位，我是英国第二位女首相，但绝不会是最后一位。”

“即将离任之际，我无怨无悔。能够给我机会、让我得以报效我深爱的国家，我永远心怀感激。”

说完这些话，梅姨哽咽离场。

据报道，她将继续履行首相职责，直到新的党首选出。

根据英国相关规则，首相辞职后，执政党内选举产生的新党首将自动出任首相。

UK Prime Minister Theresa May announced that she will step down as leader of the Conservative Party on June 7. The successor was expected to be in place by parliament's summer recess set for July 20, said the Conservatives.

"It is now clear to me that it is in the best interests of the country for a new prime minister to lead that effort. So I am today announcing that I will resign as leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party on Friday the 7th of June," May said in a statement outside her Downing Street residence, with her voice breaking with emotion.

"It is and will always remain a matter of deep regret to me that I have not been able to deliver Brexit," she added.

British Prime Minister Theresa May ‍delivers a statement in London, Britain, May 24, 2019. /Reuters Photo

The resignation will signal the formal start of a leadership contest. She would remain as prime minister in a caretaker role until a replacement is elected by the party. The leader of the party automatically becomes prime minister.

The leadership race is expected to take several weeks. Nominations among MPs would close in the week beginning June 10, before party members choose between the top two candidates "in time for the result to be announced before parliament rises for the summer," said the party's chairman Brandon Lewis.

He said that after nominations close, successive rounds of voting among MPs will whittle the contenders down to a final two. "We expect that process to be concluded by the end of June," said Lewis. May will stay on as prime minister until her successor is chosen.

"I feel as certain today as I did three years ago that in a democracy, if you give people a choice you have a duty to implement what they decide. I have done my best to do that," said May.

"I negotiated the terms of our exit and a new relationship with our closest neighbors that protect jobs, our security and our Union. I have done everything I can to convince MPs to back that deal. Sadly, I have not been able to do so. I tried three times. I believe it was right to persevere, even when the odds against success seemed high."

British Prime Minister Theresa May arrives to deliver a statement in London, Britain, May 24, 2019. /Reuters Photo

"I will shortly leave the job that it has been the honor of my life to hold – the second female prime minister but certainly not the last."

"I do so with no ill-will, but with enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country I love."

May, who took charge in the aftermath of the 2016 EU referendum, was forced to make way following a mutiny in her cabinet and Conservative Party over her ill-fated strategy to take Britain out of the European Union.

British Prime Minister Theresa May's husband Philip waits as she is expected to make a statement, at Downing Street in London, Britain, May 24, 2019. /Reuters Photo

She will become one of Britain's shortest-serving post-WWII prime ministers, remembered for presiding over one of the most chaotic periods in the country's modern political history.

MPs have overwhelmingly rejected the withdrawal agreement she struck with European Union leaders last year three times, brutally weakening May on each occasion.

The Conservatives are expected to fare similarly badly in this week's European Parliament elections when the results are announced late Sunday.