Captain Mainwaring often a sympathetic subtext to his own personal neuroses; it is apparent several times that he devotes his energies to his Home Guard unit for a sense of comradeship and purpose lacking in other parts of his life, such as his career and marriage. On one occasion when his men spurned a parade to play darts against the ARP he expressed bewilderment, saying coming to the platoon is "the highlight of my day". It is frequently implied that he is trapped in a loveless and unhappy marriage to Elizabeth, his unseen wife, who is domineering, neurotic and withholding of affection.
William Mainwaring caused some amusement when they appealed to Labour to withdraw their candidate to stop splitting the working-class vote. Mainwaring succeeded in increasing his majority to 8,433. In the new Parliament, Mainwaring won sixth place on the ballot to introduce a Private Member's Bill and chose to try to make employers liable for injuries to workmen caused by the negligence of fellow workmen. When debated, a Conservative MP moved to reject the Bill, and the Government declared their opposition; the Bill was defeated by 146 to 85. In the next session, Mainwaring won again, this time in first place; he introduced