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OK so the red / white ignition wire should be attached to the diagonally mounted spade terminal NOT to the smaller spade terminal marked "IGN". Confusing, but there you are. And the way to fasten the solenoid "eye" over the starter motor lever is to tie back the spring and top plate (which holds the eye against the lever when installed) with a piece of wire looped around the back of the solenoid piston. This wire keeps the "eye" open so you can slide it over the end of the lever and then, carefully remove the wire so the eye doesn't slip off the lever and, with the piston held carefully in place, slide the solenoid body over it and into position. Simples...
So now I understand starter solenoids much better, and have a replacement one arriving in the post which I no longer need. Good to have a spare, probably.
Anyway, the original reason for all this fuss was me installing headlight relays. These have reduced the voltage drop (cf. if the headlight circuit is all routed through the headlight switch) from 14.5-17% down to 5.6-7.1%, so I should have noticeably brighter lights. I also found that the mounting holes for the factory airbox, which was ditched in favour of the Lotus Excel airbox during the engine upgrade, are in a perfect position for the headlight relays, no new holes required.
I've read that upgrading sealed beam headlights to the H4 halogen type is a very common upgrade for classic cars, best done in combination with the installation of headlight relays. Looking at the GT parts manual, the oem headlights are described as "Q1V H4", so perhaps JML decided to use install the brighter lights but did not bother with the relays?