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Sir Kim Darroch, the United Kingdom's ambassador to the U.S., resigned Wednesday as his position in Washington became more and more untenable following a Donald Trump freeze-out.

Trump said Monday that he would retaliate against Darroch by ignoring him completely, as punishment for harsh language about him in secret cables leaked to The Mail on Sunday. 

By Tuesday he was tweeting that 'wacky' Darroch was 'a very stupid guy' - and that Britain's prime minister Theresa May was 'a disaster.'

Darroch said Wednesday: 'The current situation is making it impossible for me to carry out my role as I would like.' 

UK Prime Minister Theresa May called the situation a 'matter of deep regret' after Darroch stepped down: 'The whole cabinet rightly gave its full support to Sir Kim on Tuesday. Sir Kim has given a lifetime of service to the United Kingdom and we owe him an enormous debt of gratitude. Good government depends on public servants being able to give full and frank advice.'

Overnight she tweeted a photo of herself meeting with Cindy McCain, the widow of Trump arch-nemesis Sen. John McCain. 

And she told the UK's Parliament in another apparent jab at Trump: 'I hope this House will reflect on the importance of defending our values and principles particularly when they are under pressure.' 

Trump ally Boris Johnson, most likely the next prime minister, may have dealt Darroch's career a fatal blow by refusing to say in a televised debate Tuesday that he would keep him on as ambassador.

British Ambassador to the U.S. Sir Kim Darroch, pictured during Donald Trump's recent visit to the United kingdom, has quit his position following the embarrassing leak of his frank and brutal assessments of the American president

In a series of cables, Darroch gave a scathing assessment of the Trump White House, questioning whether it 'will ever look competent'; days later, he has quit 

May jabbed at Trump with a photo of herself meeting with Cindy McCain, the widow of Trump arch-nemesis Sen. John McCain

President Trump said Monday that his administration 'will no longer deal with' the UK's ambassador, who trashed him in secret memos leaked to The Mail on Sunday

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, the other remaining candidate to succeed May, said he was 'deeply saddened' by the diplomat's resignation. Hunt had said he would keep Sir Kim if he became prime minister.

Hunt tweeted: 'Standing up for Britain means standing up for the finest diplomats on the world. It should never have come to this.'

And he said in an official statement that Darroch 'brought dispassionate insight and directness to his reporting to ministers in London.' 

The leak has roiled the British government and exposed deep divisions within the ruling Conservative party's senior ranks.

Johnson is considered favorite to win the election to lead the party, which will then make him prime minister in succession to May.

But he was accused by a junior foreign minister, Alan Duncan, of throwing Sir Kim 'under the bus.'

Showing the anger within his department at the treatment of the diplomat Duncan told the BBC that Johnson had failed to back Darroch during a televised debate late on Tuesday in order to serve his own personal interests.

'He has basically thrown this fantastic diplomat under the bus to serve his own personal interests,' Duncan said. 

Meanwhile police are trying to investigate the source of the leak, with Hunt saying that they will consider whether it was the result of a Russian hack.  

Allies of Johnson in turn told MailOnline that Hunt was likely to be fired from the government by Johnson for criticizing Trump. 

Nigel Farage, the Brexit Party leader and Trump ally who is the subject of rumors that he could be London's next man in Washington, tweeted that quitting was 'the right decision.' 

It is 'time put in a non-Remainer who wants a trade deal with America,' Farage tweeted. He has said he would not want the role, which Trump had publicly touted him for after the 2016 election.

Darroch's withdrawal came in a letter to Sir Simon McDonald, the permanent under secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the highest-ranking career official. 

'The current situation is making it impossible for me to carry out my role as I would like,' he wrote. 'I am grateful to all those in the UK and the US, who have offered their support during this difficult few days. This has brought home to me the depth of friendship and close ties between our two countries. I have been deeply touched.

'I am also grateful to all those with whom I have worked over the last four decades, particularly my team here in the US. 

'The professionalism and integrity of the British civil service is the envy of the world. I will leave it full of confidence that its values remain in safe hands.'

McDonald responded that he accepted his resignation 'with deep personal regret,' praising him for behaving 'with dignity, professionalism and class.'

'You were the target of a malicious leak; you were simply doing your job,' he wrote. 

Trump on Tuesday had eviscerated Darroch on Twitter, calling him '[t]he wacky Ambassador that the U.K. foisted upon the United States.

Darroch 'is not someone we are thrilled with, a very stupid guy,' he wrote. 'I don't know the Ambassador but have been told he is a pompous fool. Tell him the USA now has the best Economy & Military anywhere in the World, by far.' 

British Prime Minister Theresa May said in Parliament on Wednesday that Darroch 'has given a lifetime of service to the United Kingdom and we owe him an enormous debt of gratitude; Good government depends on public servants being able to give full and frank advice'

Trump ally Boris Johnson, most likely the next prime minister, may have dealt Darroch's career a fatal blow by refusing to say in a televised debate Tuesday that he would keep him on as ambassador. He campaigned in  London pub Wednesday

Nigel Farage, the Brexit Party leader and Trump Ally, agreed with the Darroch resignation and is already being talked up as an outside replacement for him

Trump gave Darroch the back of his hand Tuesday on Twitter as he also lashed out at outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May

Trump's quasi-declaration of statecraft war initially came in a pair of tweets that tore into Britain's outgoing prime minister Theresa May for her handling of Brexit, and suggested that a new leader in London could replace Darroch.

'I have been very critical about the way the U.K. and Prime Minister Theresa May handled Brexit. What a mess she and her representatives have created. I told her how it should be done, but she decided to go another way,' Trump tweeted Monday.

'I do not know the Ambassador, but he is not liked or well thought of within the U.S. We will no longer deal with him,' he added. 'The good news for the wonderful United Kingdom is that they will soon have a new Prime Minister. While I thoroughly enjoyed the magnificent State Visit last month, it was the Queen who I was most impressed with!' 

Britain's trade minister said Monday that he would apologize to Ivanka Trump for the leak, in which Darroch described the administration as 'dysfunctional' and 'inept.'

The two met privately on Tuesday.  

But Darroch had already been struck from the guest list for a dinner that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin hosted with Trump for the emir of Qatar.  

After outgoing prime minister May sat on her hands, it fell to Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt to weigh in with a statement calling Trump's comments 'disrespectful and wrong to our Prime Minister and my country.' 

The memos annoyed Trump and triggered demands on the British side to find out who had disclosed them.

A Conservative Party member in the UK who has been supportive of the Brexit movement said Tuesday that 'Theresa May has made an absolute mess of Brexit. There is no two ways about that.'

'But everybody knows as well that the ambassador will be following her out the door because people are already talking about who will replace him.'

Trump, the MP said, 'has got it spot on. It's a pity we didn't have him doing the negotiations for us with Brussels.' 

Trump first attacked Darroch on Sunday, saying after the bombshell leak that the diplomat had 'not served the UK well.'

Met before: Liam Fox, the trade minister who is groveling to Ivanka Trump, escorted her at the Queen's white tie state banquet for her father's visit to London

In a series of cables, Sir Kim gave a scathing assessment of the White House under the US President, questioning whether it 'will ever look competent'.

On Sunday Trump had unloaded on Sir Kim in return, saying: 'The ambassador has not served the UK well, I can tell you that.

''We are not big fans of that man and he has not served the UK well. So I can understand it, and I can say things about him but I won't bother.'

Trump's aides said Darroch's position was no longer 'tenable' and they expected him to be removed. 

His blunt assessments of the Trump administration in briefing notes from 2017 to the present were highly embarrassing for the Foreign Office.

One suggested that in order to communicate with the president 'you need to make your points simple, even blunt.'

He also says: 'We don't really believe this administration is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional; less unpredictable; less faction riven; less diplomatically clumsy and inept.'

Another note questioned whether the White House 'will ever look competent.'

Following Trump's state visit to the UK in June, Darroch warned that although the president had been 'dazzled' by the pomp, his administration would remain self-interested and 'this is still the land of America First.'

Nigel Farage (pictured last week) has called for Sir Kim Darroch to be replaced over his frank assessment of the state of the Trump White House

In one of the most recent documents, Darroch refers to 'incoherent, chaotic' US policy on Iran and questions Mr Trump's publicly stated reason for calling off a retaliatory air strike against Tehran following the downing of an American drone.

Media reports of 'vicious infighting and chaos' were 'mostly true' despite the president's attempts to brush them off, he said.

Referring to allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, the memo said 'the worst cannot be ruled out.' 

Farage, whom Mr Trump said would do 'a great job' as Britain's ambassador to the U.S., had said Darroch was 'totally unsuitable for the job.'

He added in a tweet that the 'sooner he is gone the better.'

British ambassador's waspish wit comes back to sting him 

Sir Kim Darroch was handed one of the most prestigious jobs in the diplomatic service several months before Donald Trump entered the White House.

The Washington ambassadorship – with its lavish embassy parties – is far removed from the council flat Sir Kim grew up in on an Oxfordshire council estate.

Described as witty and humorous by those around him, he was a bright youngster and won a free scholarship to attend Abingdon School, a leading public school that charges £20,000 a year for day pupils. 

'I think I was the only person in the school uniform walking out of this council estate every morning to go to school,' he recalled in a recent interview.

Sir Kim is pictured with his wife Lady Canessa in Washington DC in April 2016 

He joined the diplomatic service in 1977 after leaving Durham University with zoology degree.

From 2007 to 2011 he served in Brussels as the UK Permanent Representative to the EU.

Knighted in 2008, the 65-year-old was David Cameron's national security adviser from January 2012 to September 2015 before going to Washington.

He is nearing the end of his diplomatic career. In an interview last year he said, 'I don't want to sound all Monty Pythonesque', before adopting a mock Yorkshire accent to add: 'I were brought up in' paper bag.

'But I grew up in a council flat . . . and perhaps because of my background I never feel like I'm in a gilded cage. This job is the privilege of my life.' Sir Kim and his wife Vanessa soon settled into the private apartment in the embassy, widely regarded as the finest in Washington DC.

His name rose to prominence after the president's election victory when Mr Trump called for Nigel Farage to replace him as the UK's man in Washington.

No10 was forced to insist there was 'no vacancy' and praised Sir Kim as an 'excellent ambassador'. 

He had earlier hit the headlines when, soon after Mr Trump's election win, The Sunday Times reported on a secret memo in which Sir Kim apparently suggested the UK could exploit Mr Trump's inexperience in office.

The memo said: 'The president-elect is above all an outsider and unknown quantity, whose campaign pronouncements may reveal his instincts, but will surely evolve and, particularly, be open to outside influence if pitched right... We should be well placed to do this.'