Dame Emily told BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour the strikes were “not a legal action” and she “cannot think of anything that could be a proper justification”.
She said the UK and its allies should collectively say “we cannot have breaches of international law like this. We cannot have the law of the jungle.”
She added: “We condemn Putin for doing it. We need to make clear that Donald Trump shouldn’t be doing it either.
“People just can’t do whatever they want. I mean, we really can’t have a kind of international anarchy.”
Warning the US action risked emboldening Russia and China, she said: “This growing idea that Trump thinks, and so does [Russian President] Putin and so does [Chinese President] Xi, that they should all have their spheres of influence and that other countries should not get involved and they should be able to essentially do what they think is the right thing to do, what they want to do in the interests of their country, in the countries in the surrounding area…
“President Putin will presumably say, well, Ukraine is in my sphere of influence – what are you complaining about? And Xi may well say that about Taiwan. It sets a terrible precedent and [is] really worrying.”
A handful of Labour MPs – mostly on the left of the party – have publicly condemned the US action for breaking international law so far.
However, more could criticise the UK’s response in the House of Commons later, when the foreign secretary gives a statement on the developments in Venezuela.
