Cleaning plugs with anything metallic (wire wool / wire brush) is generally frowned upon these days as you can leave metallic deposits that cause shorting across the insulator leading to misfires / fouling. … but I don’t know if that relates more to todays high power ignition systems. Certainly you’d get through a lot of plugs on an old car if you changed them every month instead of brushing off any carbon!
I’m sure if you’ve wiped the plugs down after the wire wool, or better yet sprayed them off with some carb cleaner that they will be fine. Still a fresh set wouldn’t hurt, especially if you’re giving the car a bit of a once over before getting back on the road.
If you were getting a cough / short run from the engine on easy start, then the spark is probably not the problem. Fuel / fuel mixture seems a more likely cause.
As Toshi says above, filling the float chamber with petrol, would be a start. If you’re concerned about removing the fitting, another option is to remove the fuel hose that feeds the carb, and fill the carb using a bit of spare hose and a funnel.
Even better would be to take the carb off and give it a clean out, but I appreciate that’s a more involved task.