Former UK PM David Cameron takes teaching job in Abu Dhabi

Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron has just landed a three-week job at a university in the United Arab Emirates, to teach "practising politics and government in the age of disruption".

The course, running in January, will cover the war in Ukraine, migration crises and disinformation, according to New York University Abu Dhabi, a portal campus of the prestigious American university.

The former Conservative Party leader has made precious few public engagements since he was involved in the Greensill lobbying scandal, pressuring government officials to secure loans from the Bank of England for the supply chain finance group. 

"He led the Tory party for 11 years and the country for six years and will draw on his experience in teaching the course about politics and government in the age of populism and disruption," a friend of the erstwhile leader told the Financial Times. 

During his six-year premiership, Cameron presided over the Brexit vote which led to the UK’s departure from the European Union, a swathe of 'hostile environment' policies against migrants in the UK, and years of austerity. 

The appointment enraged some in the right-wing press, who said Cameron was being rewarded for his political career failures.

NYU's Abu Dhabi campus was opened in 2010.

Critics of the UAE's rulers have questioned whether academic freedom can be exercised at a campus in the Gulf state, with academics among those who have been detained and tortured by Emirati state security.

The New Arab contacted Cameron’s press office for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.