Torchlight
UK professional-services group specialising in security, justice, strategic communications and cyber capacity-building; major CSSF framework supplier; acquired by Axiom International in 2021
| Torchlight Group | |
|---|---|
| Type | Private company / professional services |
| Logo | |
| Founded | 2011 |
| Founder(s) | |
| Dissolved | |
| Registration ID | |
| Status | Acquired by Axiom International (2021) |
| Headquarters | Swindon, United Kingdom |
| Location | |
| Area served | |
| Services | Programme design and delivery for bilateral and multilateral donors (FCDO, MOD, Home Office, NCA, UN, USAID); security-sector reform; strategic communications; investigations and mentoring |
| Registration | |
| Key people | Ed Dickson (Co-Founder and Managing Director); Doug McKenna (Director of Security and Justice) |
| Website | |
| Remarks | Repeated CSSF framework and call-off contractor (Lebanon, Libya, Ghana and others); specialises in defence, strategic communications and cyber capabilities |
Torchlight Group (Torchlight) is a Swindon-based professional-services company founded in 2011 that advises governments on security, stability and “rule of law.” It delivers capacity-building programmes for bilateral and multilateral donors, including the UK (FCDO, MOD, Home Office and NCA), the UN and USAID, focusing on the drivers of serious and organised crime, irregular migration, counter-extremism and counter-terrorism. The firm has described working with approximately 70 government organisations across 41 countries, with regional platforms covering the Middle East, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In March 2021 it was acquired by Axiom International (part of the Limerston Capital-backed AFA International group), which cited Torchlight’s defence, strategic-communications and cyber capabilities as complementary to its own strategic capacity-building work.[1][2]
CSSF and UK government contracting
Torchlight has been a regular supplier under the CSSF Framework 2018 (CPG/2350/2018) and subsequent call-off contracts. Documented awards and bids include:
- CSSF Lebanon – British Policing Support Programme (ITT 3093 / related call-offs): Torchlight led or participated in consortia (with B&S Europe, First Call Partners, REACH Research & Consulting and ABAAD) bidding for and delivering policing and security-justice support to the British Embassy in Beirut. Bid documents highlight a Senior Programme Director (Doug McKenna) with prior CT mentoring and investigations experience for HMG in Lebanon, and claim successful delivery of more than £35 million of capacity-development projects over eight years. Avalon Library hosts a set of the 2019 ITT response documents.
- CSSF Libya Pursue (call-off, awarded January 2023): £1,502,412 contract (January 2023–March 2025) to improve Libya’s capability to investigate and disrupt terrorist threats in a human-rights-compliant manner.
- SOC Prevent – Alternative Pathway Ghana (Home Office call-off under CSSF Framework 2018, reference C24188): Torchlight Group Ltd as supplier for a prevent-focused programme.
- Additional CSSF and related work in Jordan, Pakistan and elsewhere has been referenced in bid materials and acquisition announcements, covering security-sector reform, strategic communications and cyber.[3][4]
The firm positions itself as delivering “enduring security and stability” through technical assistance, training, mentoring and strategic communications. Personnel cited in bid documents include former senior police leaders and FCO/CT programme directors (e.g. Doug McKenna, previously Head of CT at the British High Commission in Islamabad).[3]
Acquisition and later structure
In March 2021 Axiom International (led by co-founder Prof Angela Gallop CBE and backed by Limerston Capital) acquired Torchlight Group. The acquisition was described as combining Axiom’s strategic capacity-building expertise with Torchlight’s defence, strategic-communications and cyber capabilities to create a larger international security and criminal-justice capacity-building organisation. Ed Dickson, Torchlight co-founder and managing director, remained associated with the combined group. Post-acquisition activity has continued under the Axiom/AFA umbrella while the Torchlight name has been used in ongoing CSSF call-offs.[1][2]
- Ed Dickson – Co-founder and Managing Director; remained associated with the combined group after the 2021 Axiom acquisition.[1]
- Doug McKenna – Director of Security and Justice at Torchlight; former Head of CT at the British High Commission (FCO) in Islamabad; named as Senior Programme Director on the CSSF Lebanon British Policing Support Programme bid, with prior CT mentoring and investigations work for HMG in Lebanon.[3]
- Henry Smith – Technical Director cited in the Lebanon bid; previously Senior Conflict Advisor for the UK Government in Iraq and involved in southern Syria stabilisation planning for the FCO.[3]
- Richard Bone and Rania Skaine – named in the Lebanon bid as Team Leader and Programme Manager respectively.[3]
- Alicia Kearns – Powerbase records that she “worked for this MI6 contractor in Lebanon.” Kearns was Cross Government lead for Counter Daesh, Syria and Iraq Effort at the FCO (August 2014–August 2016) and later client services director at Global Influence (2016–2017) before becoming Conservative MP for Rutland and Melton / Rutland and Stamford and Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.[5]
The Lebanon CSSF British Policing Support Programme (ITT 3093) is the most extensively documented Torchlight engagement in that country; the Powerbase note places Kearns with the firm in Lebanon during or around the period of its CSSF work there.
See also
- Conflict, Stability and Security Fund
- Adam Smith International
- ARK Group
- Incostrat
- Integrated Security Fund
External links
- Consultancy.uk, March 2021
- Private Equity Wire, March 2021
- Contracts Finder: CSSF Libya Pursue (2023); CSSF Framework 2018 call-offs
- Avalon Library: Torchlight CSSF Lebanon ITT documents (ITT 3093)
- Declassified UK, July 2021 (CSSF Syria context)
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Consultancy.uk, Axiom International acquires Swindon-based Torchlight, 9 March 2021.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Private Equity Wire, Limerston Capital-backed Axiom acquires Torchlight, 5 March 2021.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Avalon Library, index of Torchlight CSSF Lebanon British Policing Support Programme ITT documents, avalonlibrary.net.
- ↑ Contracts Finder, CSSF Libya Pursue, January 2023; CSSF Framework 2018 call-off C24188 (Ghana).
- ↑ Alicia Kearns page, Affiliations section.