[notorious]

>> Can you just use brute force to yank the handbrake lever over a bit

Good approach. Yes you can do that. This is how I've fixed mine:

1. Remove leather handle (pry off plastic clip from bottom of the handle where it meets with plastic hood). Use flat screwdriver for that wrapped in vinyl plastic tape. Plastic clip is about 1/2 inch long. Apply some force here to get the clip out. Remove handle when clip is out.
2. Remove plastic hood. You might want to buy plastic hood too if you just shelled out 75 pounds for fake wood. Buy black hood, not the grey one if you have light color interior. If the black hood scratches in future you won't notice it because it's black. The hood is cheap.
3. At this point of time you'll have bare metal handbrake lever which you can custom bend with your bare hands.
3. Put plastic hood and leather handle back, but don't push plastic clip back. Check alignment. Do 1, 2 and 3 again if alignment is not correct.

I've shelled out 80 pounds just like you for the fake wood, but the plastic "fork" element that connects the fake wood to the handbrake is so idiotic, that it is clear it'll break again sooner or later. So I've decided to save that fresh-purchased part for the future (besides, "wood" color didn't match 100%) and I've installed the old wood part in place by completely removing remains of broken plastic fork (you can do it with sharp knife or a file) and fixing it with foamed double sided tape that some people in this country use to attach their number plates. Just use a bit thicker tape or just use two layers of this tape, again, to get proper vertical alignment. It works perfectly, I assure you. I've fixed it like this more than a year ago and this solution is bulletproof.

If I go to GTI I'll try to never forget to take industrial quality 3M VHB (Very High Bond) tape with myself. I have a whole roll of it and it'll come handy to fix the God damn thing permanently.