Back in 2016, we gave the British people a choice. Against all predictions, the British people voted to leave the European Union. 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.

This is a familiar line from Theresa May, whose lineage can be traced right back to the “Brexit means Brexit” catchphrase of her first few months in office. But she does genuinely believe not only that the result of the Brexit referendum must be implemented – but that failing to do so is dangerous for Britain’s democracy.

I believe it was right to persevere, even when the odds against success seemed high. But 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.

This is a sideswipe at the colleagues who have been trying to bring her down for months, and were driven to fresh spasms of fury when she entered talks with Jeremy Corbyn, in a bid to win Labour support for a modified version of her Brexit deal.

Her efforts ultimately failed – but she’s saying she stands by the decision to keep on trying, right up until the end.

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

May knows that whatever she hoped would be her achievements, her three-year tenure in Downing Street is likely to be remembered chiefly for her failure to achieve the central task her government was set by the electorate.

She’s signalling here that she knows this failure is a burden she will carry for the rest of her life.

It will be for my successor to seek a way forward that honours the result of the referendum. To succeed, he or she will have to find consensus in parliament where I have not. Such a consensus can only be reached if those on all sides of the debate are willing to compromise.

This is the “good luck with that, Boris” passage. May has ultimately been brought down by those in her own party seeking a cleaner break with the European Union, which they believe the obligations contained in the Irish backstop will prevent.

But whoever succeeds her will have to govern with the support of a hung parliament, unless and until they call a general election. So a harder Brexit, let alone no deal, is highly unlikely to command a majority in parliament.

May is pointing out here that whoever is behind the big black door in Downing Street, the structural challenges of delivering Brexit remain – and they may become more, not less difficult, if her successor is more dogmatic.

Security. Freedom. Opportunity. Those values have guided me throughout my career. But the unique privilege of this office is to use this platform to give a voice to the voiceless, to fight the burning injustices that still scar our society.

This was followed by a list of the achievements May most prizes, and was an attempt to impose some coherence on a premiership defined almost exclusively by Brexit.

But two of the things she mentioned, the public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower disaster, and the race disparity audit, are efforts to investigate why things have gone badly wrong, in a Britain her party has run for almost nine years.

Another, ending the postcode lottery in mental health, appears more of an aspiration than a success.

I will shortly leave the job that it has been the honour 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.

This was the moment May’s usually steely demeanour collapsed, her voice cracking with emotion as she uttered those last few words.

She may have been more low-key about it than the flamboyant Boris Johnson, but she has long been a deeply ambitious and self-confident politician, who believed she was the right person for Britain’s top job – and now it’s over.