Did Ken Clarke work without a red box?

Ken Clarke is a hero with MPs having received an unreserved apology from Sir Thomas Legg.  However, his past is not all it seems.

Alice Thompson, in an article about Tory talent, obviously believes Ken had so much of the stuff that be never needed a red box when he was Chancellor:

Having been out of power for 13 years, only two Shadow Cabinet ministers have swung a red box — William Hague and Sir George Young.

Just how did Ken manage to bring the country out of the last recession and lay the foundations for Brown’s ‘boom & bust’?  We should be told.