Brexit: 'Wolf of Wall Street' Jordan Belfort offers advice to Theresa May on ending deadlock over EU exit

Former stockbroker convicted of fraud says Ms May should play to people’s emotions and build rapport with the Labour party

A notorious Wall Street broker has said Theresa May needs to harness emotion and communicate clearly to end the Brexit “cluster f***”.

Jordan Belfort, whose market manipulation and fraud crimes formed the plot of the Hollywood film The Wolf of Wall Street, said he believes he could coach the prime minister to get through the Brexit impasse.

The former stockbroker turned motivational speaker told The Evening Standard: “I think the biggest issue with what happened with Brexit is there’s emotional certainty and logical certainty.

"People don’t buy on logic, they buy on emotion.

“The vote was based on emotion, the logical side now needs to catch up.”

Asked whether he could help Ms May to get the support she needs to navigate Brexit discussions, which he described as “some sort of cluster f***”, Mr Belfort said: “I’m sure I could.”

“If there’s one thing I’m good at, this is like my super power.”

He added: “I really believe that big mistake that she made is that she’s not playing on the emotional side, she allowed the conversation to devolve into strictly logical.

“I remember the energy and excitement [during the Brexit vote] and that’s all been lost.”

But he warned that only appealing to people’s emotions could also hinder Ms May in her attempts to navigate the Brexit impasse, arguing that “the logical brain serves as the human bulls*** detector”.

Mr Belfort also criticised the prime minister for her speaking skills, saying: “It does not seem like she’s a very adept communicator.

“You can have the greatest idea in the world but then when you open your mouth to speak, are you adding to it or are you subtracting from it?” he added. “I’d say she’s falling on the side of the latter.”

Asked about the cross-party Brexit talks, the former stockbroker advised the prime minister to change her approach and focus on building rapport with the Labour party.

“You catch more flies with honey than vinegar,” he said.

With MPs enjoying an 11-day Easter break, the prime minister and Jeremy Corbyn are like to review progress on the talks after the Commons resumes on 23 April.

The Labour Party is still insisting that there can be no cross-party agreement until Ms May concedes to move her “red lines”.

“The key to successfully negotiating is to give to get,” Mr Belfort added. “Give away things that you know you can give. In other words, there are some things that so important to Labour but they are not really as important to her.”

Mr Belfort is travelling to the UK in May for a series of four talks and “VIP networking events”, with tickets selling for up to £1,000.