[9] Ashe was appointed Ambassador to Argentina from March 1975 as tensions mounted between the British and Argentine governments which would eventually lead to the Falklands War in 1982.

[12] In July 1975, James Callaghan, the British foreign secretary, wanted to limit discussions with Argentina to cooperation in developing the oil and fish resources, since a change in British public opinion would be needed before the government could agree to alter their position that the islanders would have to consent to any change in sovereignty.

[13] Ashe advised Callaghan that failure to offer serious discussion about sovereignty of the Falkland Islands "could be seen almost as an open invitation to invasion".

[13] On 17 January 1976 Ashe presented a note from Callaghan to Raúl Alberto Quijano, the Argentine Foreign Minister.

[9] The conference had difficulty finding a middle ground between the very different views of two superpowers and their allies on the one hand, and the non-aligned states on the other.

However, he wished it could have pointed to agreement on one or more realistic ideas to produce specific results for enhancing international security.