RNC 2016: Ted Cruz booed from the convention stage after refusing to endorse Donald Trump

The fragile illusion of Republican party unity fell away in Cleveland on Wednesday night, as Ted Cruz, the man who ran Donald Trump the closest for the GOP presidential nomination, was loudly booed by a crowd enraged at his refusal to endorse Mr Trump in his convention speech.

A noisy chant of “Trump! Trump! Trump!” reverberated around the Quicken Loans Arena as it became increasingly clear the Texas Senator would conclude his address without lending explicit support to the Republican nominee.

“I’d like to congratulate Donald Trump on winning the nomination,” said Mr Cruz, perhaps through gritted teeth. But rather than urge the Republican faithful to vote Trump in November, he implored them instead to “vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the constitution.”

He even went so far as to endorse one of Mr Trump’s most controversial policies: the building of a border wall. But it was not enough to satisfy the nominee’s most ardent fans. Mr Cruz’s wife, Heidi, was reportedly rushed from the convention hall as the crowd turned on her husband. In an apparent coincidence, as he approached the climax of his speech, the image of the conservative firebrand’s signature grin on the arena’s jumbotron screen began to flicker, as if a Trump goon were somewhere backstage trying to cut the power.

Mr Cruz, a distant runner-up in the GOP primary, could surely be forgiven for his reluctance, after being subjected to manifold primary season indignities by the property mogul, who nicknamed him “Lyin’ Ted” and launched personal attacks on his wife and father. He responded by describing Mr Trump as, variously, a “pathological liar”, “a serial philanderer” and “a narcissist at a level I don’t think this country has ever seen.” It’s hard to come back from that.

Mr Trump himself was sanguine about the situation, tweeting later that he had read Mr Cruz's speech beforehand and decided its endorsement-shaped hole was "no big deal".

Wednesday was the night of the vanquished, as one by one Mr Trump’s former foes lined up on the convention stage in Cleveland as support acts for the man who had so brutally and unexpectedly dashed their presidential ambitions.

Mr Cruz’s divisive speech was preceded by appearances from Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker – who dropped out before Iowa, and urged others in a crowded Republican field to do the same in hopes of thwarting Mr Trump – and by Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who exited the race after making unfortunate jokes about Mr Trump’s manhood on the stump.

All three erstwhile presidential hopefuls agreed on their distaste for the presumptive Democratic nominee, but even Messrs Walker and Rubio could muster only lukewarm endorsements for the Donald. “A vote for anyone other than Donald Trump in November is a vote for Hillary Clinton,” said Mr Walker, describing the former Secretary of State as “the ultimate liberal Washington insider.”

Throughout his speech, Mr Walker encouraged the crowd to join him in repeating the mantra “America Deserves Better,” offering a portal into a humdrum parallel universe where he was the nominee, and this was his campaign slogan.

Meanwhile Mr Rubio, whose Senate attendance record is famously spotty, failed to turn up to his own party’s convention, and was instead beamed into the arena in a pre-recorded video. “After a long and spirited primary, the time for fighting each other is over,” he said. The crowd did not appear to have been listening.