Mark Camilleri will from Thursday no longer serve as the Executive Chairman of the National Book Council after his contract with the entity was not renewed.

Posting on his personal Facebook profile, Camilleri said that his contract had expired and that he was simply asked by Education Minister Justyne Caruana to hand over the keys to the Book Council’s employees.

An outspoken critic of the Labour administration in the past years, despite being a self-professed Labourite and socialist, Camilleri for many became the face of the Labour Party’s lost socialist conscience.

“I spent more than seven years building this entity which didn't even have any employees when I had entered office. I built an entity with virtually zero budget to an entity with a budget of more than one million euros per year. I was a work-martyr for our book industry which literally needed saving and we ended up increasing sales and revenues for the industry substantially. We also modernised the legal framework and obtained a premises in Valletta. The list of successes is endless and I won't bore you with the details. Everything has already been written and published”, Camilleri said.

He also announced that he had successfully brokered the publication of a Maltese novel which will be published by Peter Owen in London this year come October.

“This is a major coup and will practically launch us in the world of top-class global literature. I spent more than five years getting this done and it makes me very proud”, he said.

He said that the only reason as to why he survived in his post during the Labour's new administration was thanks to the authors and publishers who have supported him since then.

“Makes me sad I didn't get a proper send-off, but I don't expect much in life. I regret nothing. And I will be back”, he said.

The outspoken and often controversial Labour Party critic, himself a member of the PL, has often had no issues in raising his qualms about the direction which the country has gone under the current administration.

Last December, Education Minister Justyne Caruana demanded his resignation after Camilleri – often blunt and to the point – had used some colourful language in an exchange with one of the lawyers of Yorgen Fenech, the businessman alleged to have masterminded the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The call was later retracted after public anger and after Camilleri apologised for his foul language.

Last month he announced that he would be writing and publishing a new book focusing on corruption under the current administration.