Torchlight

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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
Founded 2011
Status Acquired by Axiom International (2021)
Headquarters Swindon, United Kingdom
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
Key people Ed Dickson (Co-Founder and Managing Director); Doug McKenna (Director of Security and Justice)
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]

Key personnel and related

  • 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.

CSSF Framework 2023–27 and published CSSF awards

Torchlight does not appear among the named suppliers to Lots 1 and 3 of the 2023–27 Conflict, Stability and Security Fund Framework Agreement; the 37 Lot 2 suppliers (counter-terrorism, countering violent extremism and strategic communications) were not published, being "redacted on National Security grounds".[6]

Searches of Contracts Finder for notices mentioning the CSSF return 3 published award(s) to the firm with a combined stated value of £3,769,913. This is a minimum: many CSSF call-offs, especially under Lot 2, are not published.

CSSF awards published on Contracts Finder
Award date Contract Value (£) Supplier name as published Source
2017-12-18 CSSF Lot A Pakistan - Punjab CTD Change Augmentation Programme 646,697 Tourchlight Group [7]
2022-06-21 CSSF Lebanon: Palestinian Community Resilience Building 1,620,804 Torchlight Group [8]
2023-01-10 CSSF Libya Pursue 1,502,412 Torchlight Group [9]

Companies House records several directors in common between Torchlightgroup Limited (07672340) and Axiom International Limited (07171834, since renamed TAG International Development Limited), including Jonathan Blows, Christopher Gregg and a director named Monro, and both companies give 63-65 Petty France, London, as their registered office. Torchlightgroup Limited was dissolved on 27 May 2025.[10][11]

Companies House officers

Officers recorded at Companies House
Name Role Appointed Resigned
Edward Charles Dickson Director 1 July 2011 –
Usman Adewale Alashe Director 23 October 2015 26 April 2019
Jonathan Darcy Blything Blows Director 2 March 2021 6 April 2023
Allan Costley Director 1 July 2011 29 January 2016
David Steven Field Director 1 July 2011 4 August 2015
Christopher Adam Gregg Director 2 March 2021 23 December 2021
Sean Craig Lumley Director 16 February 2012 26 November 2018
Andrew Jonathan Mcinerney Director 23 October 2015 13 November 2020
Douglas Gardner Mckenna Director 21 July 2016 2 March 2021
Peter Lachlan Alexander Monro Director 10 August 2018 2 March 2021
Eugene Peter Morgan Director 23 October 2015 23 January 2020
Matilda Birgitta Vabo Ohlin Knutsson Director 24 July 2019 2 March 2021
James Simon Shaw Director 5 August 2015 1 June 2018
Jeremy Hywel Thomas Director 5 April 2012 25 March 2013
Peter Anthony Valaitis Director 16 June 2011 28 June 2011
Ian David Whillock Director 21 July 2016 2 March 2021
Janet Elizabeth Williams Director 3 December 2012 2 March 2021

[10]


Leaked documents (Anonymous, 2018–2021)

Torchlight bid and capability documents feature in the “Trojan Horses of HMG” release of leaked UK counter-terrorism and strategic-communications tender files.[12] Across these bids Torchlight repeatedly states that it had delivered “over £35 million” of UK HMG programmes, including more than £12 million of counter-terrorism work – the company's own marketing claim, not an audited figure.[12]

  • Lebanon – British Policing Support Programme (ITT 3093): Torchlight bid, as part of a consortium, for the FCO's Beirut policing and security-justice programme, with a stated programme value in the region of £15–20m.[13] The contract was ultimately awarded to Siren Associates (see below).
  • Embedding counter-terrorism advisers and mentors inside foreign institutions: leaked bids cover a Lebanon CT Investigations Advisor and Mentor role (ITT 2322), Iraq CT investigations and prosecutions support, a Jordan Police Reform and Capacity Building strand, Pakistan Punjab CTD work and a Libya CT senior-investigating-officer role.[12]
  • Counter-Daesh communications with explicit non-attribution: in bids for Lebanon and Morocco counter-Daesh strategic communications, the documents state that “at no stage will we disclose HMG involvement” – language indicating deliberately unattributed messaging.[12]

Contracts Finder records three published CSSF awards to Torchlight totalling about £3.77m – the 2017 Pakistan – Punjab CTD Change Augmentation Programme (£646,697), the 2022 Lebanon: Palestinian Community Resilience Building (£1,620,804) and the 2023 Libya Pursue award (£1,502,412) – while FCO/FCDO transparency data record Torchlight-named spending of about £22.8m (2013–2024).[14]

Note on sourcing. The material in this section comes from leaked tender and bid documents of unverified provenance that were published online under the “Anonymous” name. The figures are the values proposed or tendered for in those documents (bids, Statements of Requirement and pricing schedules), not confirmed contract awards or payments; official award figures from Contracts Finder and FCDO transparency data are given alongside for comparison. The leakers’ own commentary is not reproduced here.

See also

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Consultancy.uk, Axiom International acquires Swindon-based Torchlight, 9 March 2021.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Private Equity Wire, Limerston Capital-backed Axiom acquires Torchlight, 5 March 2021.
  3. ↑ 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.
  4. ↑ Contracts Finder, CSSF Libya Pursue, January 2023; CSSF Framework 2018 call-off C24188 (Ghana).
  5. ↑ Alicia Kearns page, Affiliations section.
  6. ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) Framework Agreement (2023-2027): contract award notice 029743-2023 Find a Tender Service, 2023.
  7. ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, CSSF Lot A Pakistan - Punjab CTD Change Augmentation Programme Contracts Finder, 2017-12-18.
  8. ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, CSSF Lebanon: Palestinian Community Resilience Building Contracts Finder, 2022-06-21.
  9. ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, CSSF Libya Pursue Contracts Finder, 2023-01-10.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Companies House, TORCHLIGHTGROUP LIMITED (07672340): officers Companies House, accessed 16 October 2026.
  11. ↑ Companies House, AXIOM INTERNATIONAL LIMITED / TAG INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LIMITED (07171834): officers Companies House, accessed 16 October 2026.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Procurement and bid documents published online in 2020–2021 as the “Trojan Horses of HMG” / “Op. HMG Trojan Horse” release, circulated under the “Anonymous” name; index and files mirrored at telegra.ph, avalonlibrary.net and pdf-archive. Provenance is unverified; the figures below are proposed/bid values stated in tender documents, not confirmed payments.
  13. ↑ “Op. HMG Trojan Horse, Part 3: Securing Lebanon I”, telegra.ph, 4 January 2021; Lebanon bid set mirrored at avalonlibrary.net. Leaked documents of unverified provenance.
  14. ↑ Contracts Finder and FCO/FCDO spend-over-£25,000 transparency data (Torchlight Group), 2013–2024.
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