Mr. Ashton outlined his priorities following the resignation of FIP President Patrick Guerrand-Hermes on Monday 23rd November in Buenos Aires, at an informal meeting, following the deferral of the 27th FIP General Assembly to an as yet unspecified date and venue.

He committed his interim presidency to seeking greater transparency, accountability and decentralization of FIP responsibilities. His priorities include proposals to review polo handicapping (in particular to redress the anomalies created between –2 and one-goal handicaps); a restoration of the rules of polo as interpreted by umpires before the advent of pro-am polo, and an international agreement on the rules of polo; delegation of greater authority to the FIP Zone Co-ordinators to organize tournaments and clinics for children and umpires appropriate for their zones; and strategies to increase FIP revenue by such means as merchandise franchises; a FIP credit card and corporate sponsorship of FIP polo events, subject to avoiding conflicts of interest with corporate sponsorship of national polo events.

Mr. Ashton said that FIP urgently sought increased revenue to fund the appointment of a fulltime, salaried general manager and a small secretariat to share the workload.
In appointing James Ashton as interim president, the FIP Council of Administration took account of his long commitment to polo, both as a player and administrator, together with his experience and contribution in fields unrelated to polo.

Born in 1941, he is the son of the late Jim Ashton, captain and manager of an Australian polo team of four brothers who were unbeaten in Australia from 1929 until their retirement in 1939, and who won the British Hurlingham championship gold cup in 1937. Following his schooling, Mr. Ashton took a Bachelor of Arts degree (Sydney University, 1963), and later graduated with a Master of Business Administration (University of NSW, 1972).
He took up polo in 1963 and attained a four-goal handicap before a debilitating illness forced him to retire from the game in 1968 for 15 years. After his recovery he returned to polo, which he plays to this day.

As a polo official, in the late 1990s and early 2000s he was president of the New South Wales (NSW) Polo Association and the Australian Polo Council. In the latter capacity, in Melbourne he organized the 6th FIP 14-goal  World Polo Cup which is remembered to this day for the quality horses lent by the Australian polo community to the eight finalists.
A sheep farmer by vocation (and more recently also an award-winning wine grower), since the mid-1990s when he founded the Millamolong Polo Club he has hosted an annual international ladies' tournament and several FIP Ambassadors Cups.

In his absence, in 2005 the Council of Administration appointed him FIP Treasurer, serving under its then president, Glen Holden. He continued as Treasurer under Patrick Guerrand Hermes.

Mr. Ashton is committed to deciding as soon as practicable on a venue and date for the deferred 27th FIP General Assembly. To encourage the attendance of FIP delegates, it will coincide with a major polo event, as previous General Assemblies have done with the Argentine Open.

One possibility is Florida in February, coinciding with its high-goal season. Another is Buenos Aires in April when Argentina hosts La Copa de las Naciones. Among FIP's most pressing tasks at the next General Assembly will be the election of a new President.